Lessons Learned
by The Dark Knight's Princess
Summary: They are polar opposites. Casey is flirtatious and outgoing. Alex is modest and conservative. Casey has heedless tendencies. Alex is completely economical. Casey can be a a bit of a thrill seeker, while Alex can be a bit of a prude. Casey has a reputation, and Alex knows it. But despite all of that, does Casey have what it takes to melt the Ice Princess?
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Guess who? Jess, I am very speedy, but that's a good thing right? Anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed my last story. Believe it or not, it was actually fun to write and now I'm back with another one! Unfortunately, I had to put 'The Vow' on hiatus because I'm trying to figure out where I'm going to take it, and my apologies for that, so to not leave you guys empty handed, I started this. **

**It's a little different, but it was suggested and I immediately fell in love with the idea. A fic requested from Blitz1030! Hope you all enjoy! **

Alexandra Cabot has always done anything and everything that she's supposed to do. Ever since a small child, her father has had the highest of expectations for her to be the best of the best at anything she does, and nothing less.

At that very young age, she was being groomed for success, and nothing was going to stand in her parent's way of doing that. Well, more specifically her father, who had the highest expectations of her as the youngest daughter.

When Alex was barely even at the age of six, she had already become to take an interest in the field of law just like her father, and his father before him, and so on. It was at that moment that Peter Cabot knew that his youngest daughter was going to continue the legacy of their family.

But when Alex turned sixteen, all of that changed. Sixteen had been a very rebellious year for Alex, and for the longest of times, she was supremely sick of all of her family's rules and regulations. And that is probably she ended up dating a girl named Claire Ferguson.

Claire was precisely everything that the Cabot's were against, from simple rule breaking such as skipping class, to almost being arrested a few times for minor felonies. Either way, dating Claire always gave Alex a rush and it felt good to be outside of her father's boundaries for once in her life.

All of that ended however when Alex's mother, Victoria walked in on the two teens about to have sex, for what would have been Alex's first time. The fit that her parents through was huge, and it eventually ended up in her relationship with Claire deteriorating, not that it really matter to Claire anyhow.

It has been ever since that day that Alex completely lost her father's respect and approval. She can still remember the same expression of shame and anger that he wore when he berated her for defiling their family, saying things like 'Your sister Melissa would have never acted in this manner.' And 'How do you expect to carry on the legacy of this family when you behave like a preposterous delinquent?' It was actually pretty hurtful at the time.

Ever since then, Alex has completely regretted that one bad decision that she almost made, but it still cost her a lot. She moved on from rambunctious relationship she was having with Claire, but she didn't really date month from then on. Sure she still had an acceptable number of relationships she was actually committed to, including the one where she had slept with someone for the first time, but all of this was unknown to her father.

She had vowed since the day that she lost his approval, and that she would do anything and everything she could to gain back favor in the eyes of her father. It just still pains her to think that she brought the sense of shame on her father, and that he is still disappointed in her for making such a horrid mistake.

So all of that pretty much explains her entire demeanor and attitude. She strives to concentrate solely on her job, to continue to try to be the best of the best and once again win over her father's approval.

"Why is it that I can never to get you to relax about anything?" Alex's best friend, Serena Southerlyn says one day as she sits there watching Alex work.

Alex shakes her head and doesn't look up from what she's writing. "I am fairly relaxed thank you, and shouldn't you be working?"

Serena shrugs and leans back in the chair across from Alex's desk. "I don't really have that much to do, I'll get to it eventually."

Alex's hand stills for a moment before she shakes her head once again and continues on with her writing. "Procrastination is a habit that one will never get rid of if they make a habit of doing it so often." Alex says slightly quoting her father.

Serena rolls her eyes and huffs loudly. "You're always saying something like that. Procrastination is a part of life Alex! I'm not saying I'm going to blow my work off completely, I'm just saying that I'll get to it. You on the other hand have probably already finished work for next week."

Alex freezes and clicks her pen before pushing the now completed stacks of paper away from her. The look on her face renders Serena completely speechless for probably a good two seconds.  
"Oh my god, you have haven't you?!"

Alex simply shrugs and leans back in her chair. "I like to be ahead, you already know that." she counters defensively.

Serena's mouth hangs open as she slowly shakes her head at her best friend. For as long as she's known Alex, she's known the other blonde to be a complete overachiever. In fact, Serena can't think of not one person that she's seen as dedicated to anything as Alex is. Sometimes, Serena wonders if her best friend is a robot.

"I can't believe that you are so…are you a robot or something?" Serena asks seriously.

Alex's face contorts into a frown and she tilts her head to the side analyzing the question. "Are you asking in the sense of am I literally a robot, or are you asking do I have all of the characteristics of a robot?"

Serena's face goes blank and she just stares at Alex. "Are…are you being serious right now?" she groans out loud when she receives the same look of concentration from before. "Oh my god Alex, I was being a smartass. Why do you always over think things!"

"That was going to be my next guess…" Alex mumbles crossing her arms. "And I do not always over think!"

"Oh yeah? Remember last week when Abbie, Kim, and I were going out to get coffee and Kim asked if you wanted a brownie or something? Then you went on this whole ramble about how it depended on what type of chocolate they used to make the brownie, if it was gluten free, if it was made with artificial sugars, and if they had nuts, were they made with a special type of Brazilian hazel nut?!"

Alex slumps in her chair at the reminder. "I told you that I needed to make sure that it was safe for me to eat. Which it wasn't, because when I got it, it didn't have the right amount of frosting."

"And that is exactly why none of us like to shop for you. You're such a perfectionist we feel like if we buy you the wrong thing you'll blow our heads off!" Serena exclaims, waving her arms in the air.

"Oh please Serena, that was one time."

"One time?! What about the time that we all went out to eat, but you sent your food back because the corn was touching the mashed potatoes?"

Alex rolls her eyes and dismisses the question completely. "Whatever…I'm not that much of a perfectionist, and even if I am, so what. I like things to be done perfectly and precisely."

Serena sighs heavily before standing up from her chair. "Fine, fine, you win, but only because if I continue to argue with you, I'll only end up learning about things I never cared to know, like about where the Pythagorean Theorem originated."

Alex stands up from her chair and follows Serena to the door. "…it originated from Pythagoras, who also founded-"

Serena scowls and spins around pointing a finger at Alex, "Don't you dare start…" she says before opening the door.

"All I'm simply saying is that if you don't want me to-Oof!" Alex starts but stops as she runs into Serena who has stopped abruptly in front of her.

"Serena, what the hell!" she hisses as she looks at what caused Serena to create the collision. She frowns as she sees in the distance, Abbie talking to a woman she kind of recognizes but can't quite put her finger on where she knows her from.

"Who is that? Why do I feel like…" she starts but once again finds herself cut off by Serena shushing her, and quickly pushing her back into her office.

"That…is my ex." Serena says still whispering.

"Why are you whispering? There's no one in here but us. And oh yeah! Her name is Casey right?" Alex questions for clarification before her face contorts into a concentrated scowl. "Hey, wait a sec, is this the same Casey that I told you _not_ to date, but you did it anyway? And the same Casey that completely broke your heart when she broke up with you?"

Serena scoffs and runs a hand through her hair. "I told you several times. It was a mutual decision. And I was not heartbroken."

"…Serena you cried for a month…"

"That's not the point, the point is what the hell is she doing here…"

Alex shrugs and crosses her arms remembering all of the things she's heard about the woman in question, though they've never actually met.

"Well, by all means, go out there and find out." Alex says motioning towards the door.

Serena's jaw drops and a small gasp escapes her. "You mean go out there by myself? Are you insane? What if she sees me?"

Alex shrugs nonchalantly as she hastily opens her door and shoves Serena out of it. "I dunno…say hi." She replies smirking before closing her door once again.

* * *

Casey Novak stops her conversation with her best friend, and briefly turns her attention towards the sudden noise of a door slamming. Her eyes widen and she blanches completely when she sees none other than Serena Southerlyn standing on the other side of the closed door, stomping her foot in frustration.

Abbie cranes her neck, glancing at Serena briefly before turning back to her best friend, but not with out a wide smirked placed on her face. She chuckles at Casey's facial expression; it's priceless.

"Oh, is the notorious Novak rendered speechless, by an old flame?" Abbie teases well aware that Serena is now approaching them.

Casey swallows thickly and glares at the chuckling brunette next to her. "It's not funny…" she murmurs as Serena finally reaches them. What an awkward conversation this is going to be.

"Hey Rena!" Abbie says cheerfully waiting for the entertaining situation to unfold.

"Hi Abbie…Casey…" Serena says in a bland greeting.

"Uh...hey." Casey murmurs awkwardly, still feeling the effects of the conversation.

"It's been awhile…what are you doing here?"

"Um…job…I got a job here as an ADA for white collar. How have you been?" Casey asks trying to take the conversation off of her.

Serena shrugs and briefly shoots a snickering Abbie a disapproving look. "I've been fine…considering. Anyhow, I only came over to remind Abbie of her meeting, but now that I've done that, I think I can be going. It was nice seeing you Casey…"

"Um…yeah you too." Casey responds awkwardly. The two remaining women stand in silence until Serena is completely out of earshot and Abbie bursts into hysteric laughter.

"Why is this funny to you?!" Casey nearly shouts giving the laughing woman a shove.

Abbie takes several deep breaths to catch her breath before she is actually able to respond. "It's just the look on your face! You had no idea what to say to her, and it was great!"

Casey scowls and is about to hit Abbie, when she sees another woman exit the office that Serena was standing in front of. The woman is a slender blonde, with a determined facial expression, and legs that go on for days. To say that she's gorgeous would be a complete understatement.

Abbie catches Casey staring at she immediately hits the redhead in the back of the head, breaking her trance.

"Nuh uh, don't _even_ think about it." she says flatly.

Casey makes a face as she rubs the sore spot on the back of her head. "I don't know what you're talking about; and who was that?" she asks curiously.

"You know exactly what I am talking about. That was Alex Cabot; and believe me when I say that she is not a force to be reckoned with. Not even _you_ could break the ice with that woman."

Casey gasps and places her hand over her heart. "Why, Abigail, I am wounded. Are you starting to doubt my abilities?"

Abbie narrows her eyes at the use of her first name but dismisses it. "Yeah that's it…but in all seriousness, Alex is like…untouchable."

"She's also super hot."

"Case, I'm being serious…plus, she knows about you."

"…what do you mean she knows about me?"

"Serena is her best friend, so she's kind of known about you. Plus that and…other things." Abbie replies coyly before she bursts into laughter once again.

Casey rolls her eyes and actually smacks her cackling friend this time. "Once again, why is any of this funny to you?!"

"It's funny because I can't wait to watch all of your 'conquests' come together and rag on you." Abbie gets out through her laughter.

Casey pales completely once again and swallows thickly. She blinks several times and turns to Abbie who is almost doubled over in laughter.

"Wait…how many are we talking?"

**Oh yes, this is going to be much fun. Lemme know your thoughts. Leave a review? **


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Hehehe this is gonna be such a fun story. Hope you enjoy! **

So Casey must admit that she has dated quite a bit. Okay, maybe it is a little more than a bit, especially if you add all in the random flings or one night stands, and so on. All she knows that it's been…quite a bit.

It actually amuses her that some of her exes refer to her as a 'womanizer'. Maybe it's true, maybe it's not, she doesn't know, but she doesn't let it worry her.

Casey finds it extremely hard to be tied down to just one woman, hence why things never really work out. Now, she can honestly say that she's never cheated on a woman, but the relationship just hasn't worked out for some reason or another, and she knows that it doesn't look good when she's the one always ending them.

But beside all that, Casey finds herself to be very outgoing and adventurous, which basically in the end, end up adding to her flirtatious attitude, her charm, and everything else. In fact, she doesn't want to blow her own horn or anything, but she has been capable of actually winning over a few straight women.

Even as a child, she was always said to be the social butterfly and talkative at a very early age. She didn't start the whole dating thing of course until she was probably sixteen, and that began with being able to sweep the head cheerleader off her feet in high school. And that event in. turn eventually lead to at least going on one date with the rest of the cheerleading squad.

Casey's college days were much more rambunctious and spontaneous, from the random club crusades with her best friend, to one night stands with sorority girls, the combinations were endless, and almost numerous.

Things were always fine for her at home. Her parents expected greatly of her, and that's what she gave them, minus her relationship statuses that they didn't know about. She can only begin to imagine what her mother would have done, had she caught her making out with a different girl every other month.

But aside from all of that, Casey thrives to make her parents proud, and she's sure that she's done just that by excelling at her career, just like her mother and father. They had always wanted her to fall into the same line of work as them, while achieving goals of her own, and she's sure that she's well on her way.

Casey can't help but wonder if she's going to run into anyone else that she's had…relations with, as she's beginning her new job. She can't get over how she almost had a heart attack when she saw Serena in the hallway, and of course, Abbie's foreshadowing was not helping her nerves in the slightest.

Then her mind goes back to the gorgeous woman that she saw in the hallway; Alex Cabot. There was just something about the woman that Casey immediately found attractive, and she's already deemed it her goal to find out what that is.

In addition, Alex does seem like a very conservative woman who doesn't take any crap from anyone. But Casey had also thought the same thing about a detective she had once dated, but that whole 'tough cop' thing didn't last very long at all.

But back to the point. Just the way that Alex carries herself, and her default expression, lets anyone know that they better stay out of her way. But Casey is sure that she could get past that tough exterior.

Casey couldn't have timed it any perfectly if she had planned to, the day she is walking down the hall when Alex bumps into her and drops all of the folders she's carrying.

"Oh my God, I'm so sorry…" Alex apologizes as she stoops down to gather up her fallen papers.

"Don't worry about it, accidents happen right?" Casey responds as she scoops together the papers before handing them to Alex. "Sure hope those weren't in any particular order, because they aren't now."

Alex chuckles as she finishes picking up her things. "They were actually, but I suppose this will give me something to do while I kill time. I'm ahead so…"

Casey nods her head and pauses for a moment before continuing. "I don't believe that you and I have met."

"No, we haven't ever really formally been introduced, but I kind of already know who you are. Seeing as you dated…"

"Yeah, Serena right? But it was a while ago. So since you know me, am I allowed to know you? Like starting with your name? Or are you going to make me start guessing?"

Alex internally sighs as she can feel the other woman slowly starting to ease her into a flirtatious conversation; too bad she doesn't see that happening anytime in the future.

"There's no need for you to start guessing my name when you can just ask. Then again, I could very well not tell you, since I can feel that you are slowly trying to flirt with me." Alex replies coolly.

Casey's facial expression falters for a bit but her cunning smile slowly returns to her face. "And what makes you think that I'm flirting with you?"

"Your body language. They way that you're still lingering here, when you very well could've been on your way after helping me pick up my papers. They way that while we were picking up my files you were checking me out as much as you possibly could, while I was distracted. The way that you easily dismissed the topic of dating Serena, and the smirk on your face seems to only widen as we continue to converse."

"So…you got all that by this three minute conversation we've been having?"

Alex shrugs and adjusts the folders in her arms. "Body language speaks a lot about a persons intentions."

Casey clicks her tongue and nods. "Riiiiight. So, am I ever gonna get that name? Because if not, I'm going to probably make one up until you tell me."

Alex snorts and rolls her eyes. "You're still trying….listen; I know your game Novak, trust me. And trust me when I say: I'm not interested."

Casey raises her eyebrows at Alex's sudden rejection. Not once has it ever come that fast. "You're very observant aren't you? Have an answer for anything?"

Alex shrugs her shoulders and sashays past Casey. "I like to think of it as a gift." She says before starting to walk away put pauses. "Oh, and I'm pretty sure that you already know my name. You just wanted me to tell you."

Casey raises her eyebrows once again and folds her arms before leaning against the wall. Abbie sure was right about Alex. She's going to need a freaking pick ax to win over this woman.

* * *

**Later **

"Am I the only person that has not dated this woman?" Alex asks exasperatedly waving her arms in the air.

"Well, I haven't but that's only because she's my best friend, and that would be kind of weird." Abbie mutters as she turns her attention back to her cell phone.

Alex turns her attention back to her friend's who have remained completely silent to the rhetorical question. Honestly, one would think that they would listen to her after it happened to one of them.

"You probably are, you know she gets around." Kim mumbles indignantly. "That woman spews more 'I love you's than all of America on Valentines Day…"

"Don't you get all whiny, I'm pretty sure that Serena told you not to go out with her." Alex states firmly.

Kim rolls her eyes and folds her arms. "That isn't the point. The point is, Casey gets around. She can practically have any woman that she wants, including big strong detectives." She concludes grinning.

Olivia blushes furiously and sinks down in her chair. "Thanks for the remind…"

Abbie's eyes widen and she drops her cell phone into her glass of water. "Liv, you mean you….?"

"It…yeah, I did…and it ended probably like all of her relationships do. She's a complete tool that has a charming smile, and a way with words. It's easy to fall in…"

Alex sighs heavily and shakes her head. She will never be able to figure out for the life of her why her friend's would go out with someone that they know gets around a lot. It just doesn't make sense to her.

"Well all of you were well aware of what you're getting into." Alex murmurs spotting the waiter with their food.

"You know, I bet she's been through the entire DA's office by now. I saw her flirting with an intern when I was leaving." Serena adds in.

"It's a natural habit for her…it's like, basically how she communicates with people." Abbie says fishing her phone out of the glass, and removing the case to check for minimal water damage.

"Huh, well I'll bet you anything that, that intern is going to be picking her panties up off Casey's floor tomorrow morning." Kim says jokingly.

Alex shakes her head in disapproval once again. "She tried flirting with me earlier. I accidentally ran into her and drop all of my files. She never blatantly said anything that was an intended pick up line, I could just tell."

"Because you're a psychic ninja, who sees everything that other people don't. But yeah, I told her that you were pretty much untouchable, and that she shouldn't even try. Obviously she didn't listen." Abbie snickers.

"Well she should have, because I have absolutely no interest in a woman who has probably been through the DA's office, twice."

As the waiter places their plates on the table and leaves, the others can't help but notices how Alex is staring intently at her plate. They immediately groan knowing where this is going.

"Alex please…can you just not?" Olivia begs.

Alex purses her lips but doesn't look away from her plate. "They food is touching…."

Kim leans over and inspects Alex's plate to find the Chicken Alfredo, just barely touching the parmesan chicken.

"Alex, it's like…barely touching."

"I don't care, I specifically told that waiter that I do not want any of my food to touch, and it's touching. Look at it, it's touching. I'm not eating this, and I'm not leaving him a tip, because I specifically said…"

"That you don't like the food touching." The other women chime in simultaneously.

Alex huffs and pushes away the plate refusing to eat the food. She rolls her eyes at friend's murmuring about how ridiculously she's being but she doesn't care. She doesn't like her food touching. And she also doesn't like being hit on by a woman whose broken numerous hearts, including that of her friends.

**Yes I shall make Kim good and friendly in this story, and not cold and…you know what, as she was on the show. Also, don't worry, Amanda's in the story, she just hasn't made her appearance yet. As for the number of women Casey has dated….well we'll just have to see won't we? Leave a review! **


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Glad I got you guys hooked on this story! Oh this is just so much fun for me to write and it's only the third chapter! So excited! Hope you guys enjoy. **

"Wait…she's friends with Kim Greyleck _AND_ Olivia Benson, in addition to Serena? Oh man this is bad." Casey groans as she swings the controller.

Abbie repeats the motion and shrugs her shoulders. "Yeah, it definitely appears that way. They were talking about you at dinner today, it was actually pretty entertaining."

"What do you mean they were talking about me? What'd they say?"

"Not much. Alex was just blatantly expressing how she's not interested. Oh well, and Liv kind of said that you're a tool. Hey, how come you didn't tell me you dated her? I didn't know about that!"

Casey pauses briefly before she turns her attention back to the game. "I didn't think I needed to tell you about all the women I dated. Hey that's cheating!"

Abbie grins and waves the game controller in the air triumphantly before serving the virtual tennis ball to start another game.

"Not cheating if you aren't paying attention. But seriously, I was just thoroughly surprised that you didn't tell me you dated Liv."

Casey shrugs and swings the controller, growling in frustration when she hits the ball out which gives Abbie a point.

"Well my apologies for not telling you. Glad to know she thinks I'm a tool." She murmurs, serving the ball once again.

Abbie dismisses the comment and mentally taps her chin. "Hey, just out of curiosity, you've never dated a woman named Amanda Rollins….right?"

Casey thinks for a moment before shaking her head. "Nope…why….is she hot?"

Abbie makes a face as she an Casey continue their volley of virtual tennis. "Wow…seriously…?"

"Well, you mentioned her; it's only fair that I ask if she is hot." Casey rationalizes simply.

Abbie scoffs and shakes her head. "I refuse to answer that question. Maybe you'll meet her sometime. So, I heard you were flirting with an intern today…"

Casey raises an eyebrow but still remains focused on their game. "Who told you that? I'm not saying it's not true, but I'm just wondering how you know that."

Abbie then shakes her head and dismisses the comment. "Nah, never mind, it really doesn't matter. So is that all it was; flirting?"

Casey shrugs nonchalantly at the question. "I dunno. Maybe I'll take her out tomorrow, or something. It's still being decided. So…is Alex really not interested, or is she playing that whole hard to get game?"

"Did you not listen to me when I told you she was untouchable? How'd that whole flirting with her thing work out for you?" Abbie asks skeptically.

"She told you bout that too? Okay well first of all, I was just trying to be friendly. She wouldn't even tell me her name, and then she was all 'I can tell by your body language that you're trying to flirt with me' I mean, who says that?! I mean I wasn't even flirting with her…yet; and she completely shot me down! That never happens to me!"

Abbie pauses the game and puts the Wii controller on the coffee table. "You are unbelievable. I already told you; Alex is untouchable. She has this sixth sense for…well everything."

Casey huffs and plops down on her couch. "Well still, I hadn't even gotten to anything yet before she was all 'I know your game, and I'm not interested'. What's her deal?"

Abbie stares blankly at her best friend and raises her eyebrows. "I dunno…maybe…she knows your game…and she's not interested…?"

Casey rolls her eyes and tosses one of the couch pillows at the snickering brunette. Honestly, she can count on one hand the times that she can remember that Abbie has taken anything seriously.

"I'm being serious you jerk. But whatever, I bet she's just trying to see how long she can hold out. She's got to be interested on some level." She says boldly.

Abbie snorts and shakes her head. "You are so full of yourself Novak…"

"Hey, it's just apart of my charm."

**Meanwhile… **

"We should go on vacation, Lexie." Serena groans as she takes another long gulp of her glass of wine.

Alex raises her eyebrows as she swishes the red liquid around in her own glass. "You really think so?"

Serena nods before she lets her head rest on the back of the couch. "Yeah, totally. We really need it. I have enough vacation time, and I'm more than positive that you have more than enough vacation days saved up."

Alex hums as she begins to entertain the idea a little more. "Where did you have in mind?"

Serena pauses for a moment as if she's thinking. "I was thinking…Paris! I've always wanted to go to Paris. To go shopping, to see all the beautiful things that Europe has to offer, don't you think it'd be a wonderful place for us to vacation?"

Alex narrows her eyes as she thinks of what it would be like to visit France. She's always wanted to go, and what better time to visit than with your best friend?

"I think Paris sounds awesome. You really want to go?" she asks just for clarification on whether or not Serena is a little drunk from her wine intake.

"Yeah, I'm dead serious. We should totally go, don't you think it'd be fun? Two best friends in France, oh my god we could have our own movie!" Serena gasps excitedly.

Alex chuckles to her self as she knows that Serena is being serious about them going to Paris, but she is in fact a little drunk from her wine consumption. A drunk Serena is always entertaining to watch.

"Then I think that we should go. It would be nice to get out of the city, or in this case, the country." Alex says noting the Serena has now taken humming to herself.

The two women sit in a comfortable silence before Serena stops her humming and raises her head to ask Alex a question.

"So you wouldn't let Casey flirt with you?" she asks teasingly.

Alex makes a face and shakes her head. "No, I already told you. I'm not interested, especially knowing that she's dated three of my friends and broken three of my friends' hearts. It's just not happening. Plus, I can just tell from my three and a half minute conversation with her, that she's arrogant. She thinks that she can get any woman she wants, and it shows. Plus even if I was interested, I just don't see what would make her treat me any differently. What happened to the two of you anyway? You never completely told me much about your relationship with her in general now that I think about it."

Serena closes her eyes and groans before she downs the remnants of her wine. "We met at a conference, a little while before I started working for the DA's office. I could tell she was watching me, because I was watching her, ya know. So, on the night of the banquet she actually approached me, complemented my dress, you know, the usual. I thought she was very charming, had a very good way with her words, and knew just how to get me to swoon over her. So after an entire evening of flirting, we left the banquet, one thing lead to another, then we ended up in my hotel room where we slept together. After that, we kept seeing each other, she'd send me flowers and we'd cuddle whenever we'd watch a movie.

One day she asked me to be her girlfriend. I thought she'd never ask, but she finally did and I was ecstatic. From then on, she'd buy me things, take me to the finest of restaurants, and oh my god Alex, the sex. The sex was amazing, mind blowing even. You can ask Liv and Kim, I bet they know. But anyway, we starting seeing each other almost everyday, and we were practically living with each other as much as we were together. When she told me she loved me, I almost didn't know what to do. No one had ever said that to me, and I just…I guess it just surprised me that someone would love me.

Just when I thought we were starting to get really serious, it just stopped. I don't know what happened; if I was to committed in our relationship or what, but everything just stopped. She told me that it wasn't working anymore, and it ended there. We broke up. She stopped calling, we stopped talking all together, and that was that. We were over."

Alex sits completely still as she watches the other blonde take several shay deep breaths as if she's trying to keep her self from crying.

"Rena, do you still have feelings for her?" Alex asks carefully.

Serena quickly shakes her head and frowns at the question. "No of course not, especially when I think of literally _all _the other women she's probably been with. It's just hard to talk about. I had never given myself to someone like that, and it just hurt, that's all. I don't think she knows all this, so I would appreciate it if you don't tell her or Abbie or anyone…"

Alex nods her head and wraps her best friend into a hug. "I won't. Now c'mon, you and I need to plan our vacation."

* * *

**District Attorney's Office **

Alex internally sighs to her self as she's walking towards her office, when she sees Casey leaning against the wall outside of it, apparently waiting for her. For a moment, she actually considers turning around and walking away, but her perfectionist syndrome prevents her from doing such a thing.

"Hello Alex." Casey says grinning, earning her an eye roll from the irritated looking blonde.

"Hi." Alex mumbles as she opens the door to her office and steps inside, well aware that Casey is following her. _'Of course, invite yourself in…'_

"You know I'm a little wounded that you never told me your name, and that I had to go and ask someone else what it was." Casey says smirking.

Alex rolls her eyes and drops the stack of folders she was carrying on her desk. "Well I'm sorry to have caused you so much trouble…" she mumbles again, as she tries to get Casey to take the dismissive hint to leave.

Casey however does sense the hint that Alex is sending out, but that doesn't mean that it's going to do anything to her. She's determined to figure this woman out.

"You don't like me, do you?" she asks curiously, even though her smile doesn't fade.

"I don't know you…" Alex answers back as she sits down in her chair and begins to busy herself with something…anything.

"So…would you let me change that?"

Alex is about to respond when she sees Kim suddenly stepping into her office holding some papers in her hand. She smirks to herself when she sees Casey blanch completely upon making eye contact with the brunette.

"Hey, you left these in my office earlier." Kim says handing the papers to Alex, trying to ignore the feeling of Casey nearly gawking at her.

"Oh, thanks." Alex replies as she takes the papers, thoroughly enjoying the look on Casey's face.

"Hi Casey." Kim says simply, as she waits for a response.

"H-hi…um…hey…" Casey responds lamely not really knowing what to say.

Alex snickers silently as she leans back in her chair continuing to watch the exchange. It's almost as if all of Casey's confidence deteriorated just by Kim walking into the room. It's great.

"How have you been?" Kim asks prolonging the conversation, much to her own and Alex's entertainment, but also Casey's dismay.

"I've…uh…great, yeah…I've been great…you look…great…um how are you?" is the choppy response.

"Thank you and I've been well."

"That's…that's great."

Kim shoots a grinning Alex a grin of her own before deciding it's time she make her exit.

"I would say and chat more, but I unfortunately have to go back to work. Nice speaking with you Casey. Bye Al." Kim says as she leaves the office smirking.

Casey nervously rubs the back of her neck as she watches the brunette leave. Honestly, she never has been good with running in to an ex, but that's because it doesn't happen all that often.

"How, you totally didn't look like a complete idiot just then." Alex says sarcastically.

Casey frowns for a moment before she turn she turns her attention back to her original plan, starting with not letting Alex's sarcasm get to her.

"You making fun of me? Hey, in my defense, I don't really see any of my exes so…I don't really know how to react when I see them." She explains with a shrug.

Alex hums and leans back in her chair once again as she watches Casey visually and mentally analyze her.

"So back to what I was saying…since you said you don't really know me." Casey begins again. "I was wondering if you had any plans for lunch on this lovely afternoon."

Alex rolls her eyes and stands up from her desk as she realizes Casey isn't going to leave unless she has a reason to. She makes her way over to the door and glances over her shoulder at the waiting redhead.

"Oh I have plans. It's just that none of them involve you." and with that, she walks out the door and disappears down the hall.

Casey shoves her hands into her jacket pockets and leans against the doorframe. That's the second time Alex has walked away from her. Oh yes, she definitely does have her work cut out for her.

**Hm…a little back story courtesy of Serena in this chapter. I had to put something like that in there to add to the emotional spectrum. And oh my god can you guys not just picture Abbie and Casey playing Wii Tennis? I can so see it happening! Leave a review? **


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Fast forwarding a bit in this chapter. Anyway, I hope this site will behave now. Also, excuse my butchering of the French Language in this chapter. I kind of had to use Google translate. **

**Two and A Half Weeks Prior **

"Abbie! I've got a surprise for you!" Casey says in a sing song voice one day as she steps into her best friend's office.

Abbie makes a face and looks up from her desk. "What do you waaaaant." She replies, mimicking Casey's tone of voice.

Casey rolls her eyes and plops down in one of the chairs across from Abbie's desk. "Wow…okay, anyway. So you know how my parents are all financial and business-y right? And you know how sometimes they'll send me or my sister to work with some of their business deals?"

Abbie nods her head slightly understanding where this is going. "Uh huh…."

"And you know how they sometimes send me out of state?"

"Uh huh…wait…no. No way. Don't think I don't know what you're doing. You're trying to get me to go with you to whatever business things your parents have set up for you, and that's going to burn a hole in my pocket. Let me tell you, it's not happening."

Casey pouts and puts on her best puppy dog face. "Not even if it's to Paris, France?"

Abbie's eyes widen and she looks slightly interested but she quickly masks it. "Still…burn a whole in my pocket."

"Not even if it's all expenses paid and my parents said I could take a colleague?" Casey continues hoping to win the brunette over. She knows exactly how Abbie is about money, and she knows all of her weak spots.

"All expenses paid…?" Abbie repeats sounding far more interested than she was before.

"All expenses paid…one day of work, and then the rest of the week is ours. You interested?"

Abbie pauses for a moment before grinning broadly. "Viva la Paris!"

**Present **

"I cannot believe that I let you talk me in to that. That was completely dreadful. It's even more dreadful than Liz's meetings.' Abbie whines as they exit the French office building.

Casey rolls her eyes and shakes her head. "Hey, it was one meeting. We're done now. Plus it could have been worse."

Abbie stops walking and stares coldly at Casey. "I didn't understand a single word they were saying."

"That's why they had an interpreter…" Casey answers in a 'duh' tone. "Now shut up and get in the car, before these people think you hate their country."

Abbie sticks her tongue out at Casey before following her into the car door that's being held open for the both of them.

"Does the driver even speak English…" Abbie mutters as they pull onto the main road.

"I speak a little English Madame." The driver answers with a thick French accent, causing Casey to snicker.

"You spoiled little brat." Abbie mumbles to her best friend before turning to look out the window. Oh the things they can do in France, and the things that Casey can get into.

* * *

**Meanwhile…**

"Oh my god and we need to shop here, and there, and there, and there, oh, and there just so we can say that we did." Serena says excitedly pointing out things in her catalog.

Alex frowns at her best friend's giddiness and shakes her head. "We need to plan Serena, we just can't run all over a foreign country with out having any kind of knowledge of what we're doing."

Serena sighs exasperatedly and flops back on Alex's bed in the hotel room. "But Alex, what fun is that? Why are you always so organized? You're like…a robot! You need to relax."

Alex frowns and pushes up her glasses from where they've moved down her nose. "Organization is a part of life…"

"So is relaxing." Serena counters as she reaches forward and snatches Alex's glasses off her face. She grins when she sees Alex scowl and begin reaching for her glasses.

"Serena that's not funny." The taller blonde grumbles as she snatches them away from Serena and replaces them to their rightful place on her face. "But seriously, we need to be organized, and planned so nothing goes wrong, and we need to plan for incase something does."

Serena huffs once again and pokes Alex hard in the shoulder, causing the other woman to flinch. "You…are so uptight. What are you going to do here when your food is touching?"

Alex looks at her as if she's just asked what two plus two is. "Do what I do at home…not eat it. I told you, I don't like my food touching! I can't understand why anyone would."

Serena sits straight up and blinks several times. "Alex, when's the last time you dated someone?" she asks seriously.

Alex blushes at the question and immediately averts her eyes to anything else in the room. "I-I don't know…I've just been so focused on work, and I don't really have the time. Plus, there isn't anyone I'm interested in." she mumbles. It's only the half truth, but she simply doesn't want to say that one of her reasons being is she doesn't want to have to introduce any woman to her father.

Serena scowls and pouts slightly. "You're no fun. I'm sure that we can find a sexy French woman here that you could hit it off with."

Alex groans and screws her eyes shut. "Serena you know I'm not in to the whole one night stands kind of thing; it's just not me. Plus, I'm happily fine being single." She states as proudly as she can muster.

"But I think a date is just what you need to loosen you up. C'mon Lexie, you're always such a stick in the mud!"

"Then I'll continue to be a stick in the mud. I'm happy just like this Serena…"

Serena sighs heavily and shakes her head_. 'Well we'll just see about that won't we.' _

**Later That Evening **

"Serena I cannot believe that I allowed you to drag me here." Alex says as she looks around the French club that Serena has brought her to. She shudders as she sees numerous people dancing, drinking, and mingling. If she didn't know any better, she'd say she was back home in New York.

Serena groans and taps her nails on the table they're seated at. "Alex c'mon, it'll be fun. Maybe we'll meet some interesting people." She says hopefully.

Alex shakes her head and stares into her untouched glass of wine. She never said that she wanted to meet someone interesting, and she can't understand why Serena just won't get that.

"Serena…seriously. I don't think we should be here, what if something happens?" she asks looking around.

"Nothing is going to happen…look, I'm going to go to the restroom. I promise…nothing will happen…well, except this." And in a flash, Serena quickly snatches Alex's glasses from her face once again. "Lose these. You look hotter with out them." She concludes grinning.

"Serena come back! I need those! Ugh!" Alex huffs and rolls her eyes as she stares after best friend who happily disappears into the crowd of people. Something tells her that Serena is going to do more than just go find the restroom.

She sighs to herself as she swishes the wine around in her glass, not really enjoying herself. Her first evening in Paris, was most definitely not planned to be spent at a club. She's never really been much of a social butterfly anyway when it came to club scenes. It's just not her.

It's been about five minutes and she's beginning to wonder if Serena got lost, when she feels the presence of another person beside her. She turns her head and is about to say something but her words freeze in her mouth when she realizes that it is none other than Casey Novak smiling down at her. Great.

"You following me Novak…" Alex mumbles as she turns her attention back to her still untouched wine.

Casey chuckles but shakes her head. "No, I'm here on business. I'm as surprised to see you, as you are to see me. Though, I'm pretty sure that I'm a little happier."

Alex snorts but chooses not to respond to the comment. Honestly, why can this woman not take a hint? "I'm thousands of miles away from home, and you still manage to find me…what are the odds."

Casey's smile only fades and she tilts her head to the side. "You still don't like me do you? I bet I could make you like me before you go back home."

Alex rolls her eyes and clicks her tongue. "Yeah right. What I don't like, is being here in a club that I'm not comfortable in." s

"You really do need to learn how to relax…" Casey says seriously.

Just as Alex is about to respond, a waiter approaches her and points to her glass, before asking something in French.

"Non merci, je pense que je vais finir cette première." Alex replies perfectly at which the man nods and walks away as Casey looks at her in utter amazement.

"You speak French?" she asks interested in just how intelligent Alex really is.

Alex rolls her eyes once again and shakes her head. "Yes, I do speak French. Something you probably don't know anything about."

Casey smirks before she leans down close to Alex's ear. "Une femme intelligente comme vous est toujours pleine de surprises alors. Dire quelque chose en français, je pense que c'est chaud." She whispers seductively, causing Alex to involuntarily shiver. Casey stands up straight and chuckles again at possibly rendering the uptight blonde speechless.

"What do you want Casey…" Alex mumbles irritably as she pinches the bridge of her nose.

"I want you to relax. You should try relaxing, and going out and living life to the fullest with out some sort of organized plan or schedule. It honestly can't be healthy to be sitting her all by yourself feeling lonely and irritated. Just, live a little; come dance with me." Casey offers holding out her hand.

Alex stares at the hand presented before her before looking up at the other woman. "If I dance with you, will you leave me alone?" she asks exasperatedly.

Casey's smirk returns and she shrugs. "Maybe…maybe not. First you have to dance with me."

Alex rolls her eyes and takes Casey's hand. 'I cannot believe that I am doing this.' She thinks to herself as she lets the redhead lead her out on to the dance floor. They find a spot, stop, and start swaying to the slow tempo of the music.

"You know you're really beautiful without your glasses. Don't get me wrong, you look beautiful with them, but without them…wow. You should consider contacts." Casey says after a small silence.

Alex feels herself blushing and fights the urge to smile at the compliment.

"It wasn't my plan to go with out them. Serena kind of took them from me and ran…think it's part of her plan to get me to 'loosen up'." she replies begrudgingly.

"Well she's right. I bet you're a fun loving person when you aren't stressed out over work. Loosening up is just what you need."

"I don't think that arguing with me is going to help your situation. And your hands better move back up to my waist before I end up breaking your nose in front of all these people."

Casey freezes, but places her hands back on Alex's waist from where they had traveled southward. She smiles nervously at the blonde in front of her as they continue to dance.

"Heh, sorry…habit." She mumbles feeling Alex's icy eyes burning into her.

"Mhm…I can tell." Alex replies strictly.

The night for the two has been surprisingly easy considering their personalities and relationship, of better yet 'lack of' back in New York.

Casey has gotten Alex to tell her some things about herself and it's actually been quite interesting. She still isn't going to dismiss the fact that Alex is still in fact very uptight and conservative. But she hopes to break that; maybe even in the same night.

Alex is in mid sentence when she suddenly feels Casey leans forward and kiss her smack on the lips; and in a twist of irony, it's almost as if a gravitational force is making her return the kiss.

She doesn't know if it's the wine that she's had or if it's just being extremely turned on all of a sudden or what. But Alex knows that there is suddenly something about the woman that is completely turning her own, and it forces her to kiss back.

Casey breaks the kiss first but only pulls away so their lips are millimeters apart. She smiles as she hears Alex's labored breathing and sees her half closed eyes.

"You kissed me…" Alex states as she feels Casey's breathing against her own. It's almost like she's suddenly hypnotized by one kiss. Serena's right; she does need to get out more often.

"I did kiss you, and you let me." Casey replies coyly taking note of the look on Alex's face; the look that she's seen so many times before. "So…how about we get out of here? Go somewhere without all these people?"

"Where would we go?" Alex asks, her mind becoming completely clouded by lust.

"I dunno. Your hotel room…my hotel room? Your choice."

* * *

Alex feels Casey's hands all over her body as they stumble towards the bed in her hotel room. All of her thoughts are in a complete jumble as she falls back onto the bed with the other woman soon climbing on top of her, all the while still engaged in their lip lock.

Deep in her mind, Alex ha several warning bells going off, but still for some strange reason, she can't bring herself to voice any opposition. It's almost as if she's gone mute.

Casey runs her hands up Alex's sides, taking her shirt with her hands and soon discards the garment on the floor. She licks her lips before moving her head back down and starts placing kisses all along Alex's neck.

"You're so beautiful…" she murmurs as she starts nipping at the blonde's jaw line. She feels Alex gasp and arch into her when she starts massaging her breast through her bra. She smirks at how easily she has the woman withering beneath her.

The intense moment, is broken by a loud pounding at the door, and Alex's eyes snap open, her mind coming back to all rationality.

"Alex, I swear to god, you better be in here!" Serena shouts from the other side of the door.

"Get off me." Alex says strictly, becoming suddenly disgusted about all that she let happen.

Casey frowns confusedly and gives Alex a look. "What, why?" she asks. She hasn't exactly heard the words 'Get off me' in a very long time, and they sound foreign.

"Because, I don't want to do this, and Serena is out there. Get off."

"Mmmm, she'll go away." Casey hums as she moves to suck on the other woman's earlobe.

Alex frowns and shoves Casey off of her, sending the redhead tumbling over the side of the bed and onto the floor.

"Yeah, I'm in here, just…can you come back in maybe twenty minutes? I was just about to get in the shower." Alex calls back, hoping to get rid of Serena.

Serena grunts irritably on the other side of the door, but agrees none the less. "Fine. But don't think I won't be back." She shouts before disappearing to her own room.

Alex pulls her shirt over her head and moves to the other side of the room, putting as much distance between herself and Casey as possible.

Casey stands up from the floor and rubs the back of her head. "That actually hurt ya know." she says flatly.

Alex shakes her head furiously and wraps her arms around her self. "You need to leave. Now. None of that should have happened."

"But it did…and you let it, and more would have happened if Serena hadn't shown up." Casey points out bluntly.

Alex shakes her head and squeezes her eyes shut, thinking of the horrible, dreadful mistake she almost made.

"It shouldn't have. I'm slightly tipsy and was sexually frustrated. I'm not attracted to you, especially not in that way. You need to leave…now." she repeats again.

Casey sighs heavily and runs a hand through her hair. "Alex, seriously. You can't say all that, after what just happened."

"Yes I can, and I will because it's the truth. I don't want you bothering me anymore, in fact, even after we get back to New York, don't even bother talking to me, because I don't want anything to do with you."

"Don't you think you're being a bit extreme…?"

"No! I don't! Because it shouldn't have happened, and I didn't mean for it to happen. I had a little too much wine, and I got lost in the moment when you kissed me. I don't feel anything for you and you know why. You're arrogant, and you're a womanizer. You've dated practically all of my friends and you've broken all of their hearts, and I'm pretty sure you've broken several more in your wake."

Casey sighs again and folds her arms. "So that's what this is about…?"

Alex frowns deeply and waves her arms in the air. "That's what everything about you is about! You go from woman to woman, and you just don't care how you leave them. Well let me tell you something Casey, I am not going to be another conquest you can just right off in your book of games. We shouldn't have gotten to her, and you shouldn't have kissed me to begin with since you know full well that I'm not interested. Take a hint this time, and get out."

Casey wants to argue but she sees how serious Alex is being so she simples holds up her hands in surrender and leaves the blonde's hotel room with out a word. Maybe she'll try to say something once they get back home.

Alex tries to calm her breathing as she settles back on to her bed. She draws her knees up to her chest and rests her chin on them thinking about what just happened, and how she will do anything in her power to never make it happen again.

She squeezes her eyes shut in shame as she thinks of just how her father would react if he were to ever know about what just happened. She's almost positive that he would be disappointed.

* * *

"Where have you been?" Abbie asks curiously as Casey angrily trudges back into their hotel suit.

Casey frowns and plops down on the couch next to her best friend who is trying to busy herself with whatever she's found interesting on her laptop.

"Is something wrong with me?" Casey asks after a lengthy silence.

Abbie frowns but doesn't look away from her laptop screen. "What do you mean is something wrong with you? I don't think anything's wrong with you."

"I mean, is something wrong with me? Am I losing it to where women don't fall for me anymore?"

At this Abbie narrows her eyes and sighs greatly. "What happened now? Bartender not want to come back to the room with you…." she asks sarcastically.

Casey scowls and shakes her head. "No! I wasn't even hitting on the bartender. You wouldn't believe that I ran into Alex out there. I didn't even know she was here. So anyway, I got her to dance with me, we started chatting, I kissed her, we went back to her room, and I'm positive she would have given in if Serena hadn't have come beating on the door. So basically that happened, and in the end she basically told me she never wanted to see me again."

Abbie's eyes widen and this time she actually looks away from her laptop screen. She fixes Casey with a stare that is completely unreadable and it actually confuses the redhead.

"…what?" Casey asks confusedly.

"What? Oh my god, you can't just do that to Alex! She's not like that, Casey! Oh my god you're such an idiot." The brunette groans irritably.

Casey frowns once again and throws her arms in the air. "She was about to be like that if I wasn't interrupted. That always works with women, I don't understand what's so different about her anyway."

Abbie shakes her head and places her laptop on the coffee table. "Alex isn't like any other woman. You can't just go to her, bed her, and then expect everything to just fall into place after that. She has this whole thing about one night stands, and I'm surprised she even allowed you to touch her. You need to apologize."

"Apologize?! For what?! I didn't do anything wrong! It's not my fault I was so close to having her scream my name."

Abbie closes her eyes and pinches the bridge of her nose. "I don't know what I can say to make you understand…" she murmurs irritably.

Casey folds her arms tightly still not seeing what it was she did wrong. She just doesn't understand what makes Alex tick, and why its so hard to get the blonde to show the slightest interest in her.

"What do I need to understand? I don't get rejected Abbie! I just doesn't happen! So why is it, all of a sudden, that there is a woman who doesn't even have any kind of interest in me?!"

"Because for she's different." Abbie says quietly as she stands up from the sofa. "Maybe this is a sign that you should probably try to change." And with that she disappears into her bedroom

Casey groans and rests her head on the back of the couch. She closes her eyes trying to will away the frustration that has been brought on her by Abbie's words. She didn't do anything wrong, it's Alex who has the problem. But fine, if she wants to play that whole 'not interested' game, then Casey is more than happy to comply.

**Things moved a little fast here, but don't worry, it happened for a reason. Leave a review? **

**Translations: **

**Non merci, je pense que je vais finir cette première (No thank you, I think I'll finish this first) **

**Une femme intelligente comme vous est toujours pleine de surprises alors. Dire quelque chose en français, je pense que c'est chaud. (An intelligent woman like you is always full of surprises then. Say something else in French, I think it's hot.) **


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: This chapter is…interesting….Hope you guys enjoy.**

Alex exits her room and plops down on a chair in the living area of her shared hotel suite with Serena. She draws her knees up to her chest and awaits the plethora of questions that she knows is coming her way.

Serena exits the kitchen area and sits down on the sofa cattycorner to Alex. She stares at her best friend for a moment before voicing her confusion.

"So are you gonna tell me why you basically ditched me back there? I was worried sick about you!" Serena exclaims exasperatedly.

Alex sighs and rests her chin on her knees. "I ran into Casey." She pausing seeing Serena's look of confusion return once again. "She's here because her parents sent her on some business trip that they needed her to handle. But I ran into her, and we actually started talking and the next thing I know she's kissing me and we're back in my room and she's taking my clothes off and then you showed up…oh my god Serena I'm such a whore."

Serena raises her eyebrows and watches as Alex clutches her knees like she's holding on for dear life. It's actually pretty mind boggling to see Alex react to something like this.

"So…you were going to sleep with her? That doesn't make you a whore Alex…" Serena says seriously. "Granted, that's most definitely not what I expected you'd do but…"

"This isn't some joke! Do you realize what I have allowed to happen? I have practically gone against every last one of my morals by even letting her touch me. Do you understand what would happen to me if my father found out that I almost slept with a woman whose been around the block and back several times?!"

Serena snaps her mouth shut and sits stock still upon hearing Alex's comment. She now understands clear as day as to what Alex's deal with the situation is, but frankly it's something that she wishes she didn't understand.

"So is that what this is about? Your father?" she asks carefully not wanting to spark any flame of anger in the other blonde.

Alex frowns as if Serena has just asked her the dumbest question on the planet. "Serena it's not just about my father, It's about me about to give myself up to Casey when I have absolutely no feelings for her."

"So….why'd you let her kiss you?"

"I don't fucking know! The wine, I was confused, I just don't know Serena. What I do know is that I want her to leave me alone."

Serena shrugs her shoulders and folds her arms. "Well, I'm not saying that it's a good thing because Casey is well….Casey, but who knows, maybe she actually likes you." she mumbles, only maybe twenty five percent serious.

"Oh, like how she liked you, Liv, and Kim?" Alex retorts quickly, but regrets the words as soon as they leave her mouth.

Serena tenses at Alex's words and she immediately averts her eyes to anything else in the room. Sure she might have suggested a bit much, but that by no means gave Alex the incentive to be hurtful.

"Serena…I didn't mean it like that." Alex says softening her tone of voice.

Serena shakes her head and hugs herself tighter. "You didn't need to say that."

"I know…and I'm sorry. I just…I'm not myself right now. I don't feel like myself right now. Can we just…not talk about Casey anymore? Like not even for the rest of our vacation?" at this she receives a shallow head not, and she can't shake the annoying coil that's formed itself in the pit of her stomach.

The trip for both pairs of friends is fairly easy for the rest of the time they spent in Europe. It's amazing that both parties had been successfully able to avoid each other, much to Alex's pleasure at most.

* * *

Even after they return home to New York, things still aren't exactly the same for Alex. She pushes herself harder into her work, and busies herself with anything to keep her self distracted from…distractions. Certain distractions that cannot take the hint not to talk to her.

Every time she thinks about what happened in Paris, she feels inferior within herself and she hates that. She's also been involuntarily paranoid whenever she thinks about it, and Casey's knowing smirk whenever they past each other in the hall does nothing for her nerves.

So that's why when her mother called her to let her know that she was to be attending dinner with her parents at their home, she nearly jumped out of her skin. Whenever they have their 'family dinners', it's always code for something is going to happen. Either there's something that her parents are going to tell, there's something that her parents want to know, or they're just simply keeping their eyes open for something. It's actually pretty scary once you think about it.

Alex swallows nervously as rings the doorbell to the Cabot Estate. She's gotten use to still feeling awkward whenever she visits the large mansion. It still has the same feel of when it did when she was a kid and that is something she doesn't think is ever going to go away.

She waits for another moment before the door opens to her and she is greeted with her parents' smiling butler, Niles opens the door.

"Ms. Cabot, it's so good to see you!" the older man says cheerfully, stepping aside so Alex can enter the house. "It's actually been awhile since I've seen you."

"It's good to see you too Niles. And I've been busy…work and such…" she murmurs as she follows the butler through the house towards the dining hall.

Niles grins and nods his head before his smile falters a bit. "Well, the rest of your family has been waiting for you. I was actually on my way to fetch your mother's cell phone for her to make a call, when you came to the door."

Alex internally groans as she knows that both of her parents extremely hate it whenever she is late to anything. That is probably their biggest shared pet peeve; for someone to be late to one of their functions, especially if its family related.

"Yeah well, I tried. Traffic…" She murmurs irritably as she herself hates being late to anything as well.

She follows Niles into the dinning room where she sees her parents quietly conversing and her older sister Melissa observing something on her cell phone.

"You're late…" Victoria states as she watches her youngest daughter finally grace them with her presence.

Alex smiles nervously and pauses as Niles pulls out her chair. She hands the butler her coat and settles in to her seat next to her sister.

"I'm sorry…there was really bad traffic." She replies uneasily.

"You could have called." Peter adds in sternly.

Alex slightly sinks in her chair and nods her head. "Yes sir…" she mumbles defeated.

The table falls into an uncomfortable silence for both of the Cabot sister as they understand their father is mentally analyzing them, thinking of any, and every question he can ask either of them at any point in the evening.

"So…Melissa, how is work?" Victoria speaks up, much to Alex's joy because for once the attention is taken off of her.

Melissa hesitates for a moment and briefly glances at her sister before turning back to her parents.

"Um…fine I guess. I submitted an application and I actually have a job interview for a federal prosecutor." She answers uneasily.

"Well that's wonderful." Victoria says cheerfully, only for her smile to fade when she sees her husband showing no emotion at the news.

"I think it's great." Alex says happily, knowing that she probably shouldn't because of her father, but she at least wants to congratulate her sister.

Melissa nods her head and gives the younger blonde a smile before turning back to their parents. "Other than that, nothing else has really gone on…"

Peter hums for a moment before turning to his youngest daughter, expecting something greater from her. "And you Alexandra?"

Alex blanches at all the attention being thrown at her. She of course knew that it was coming; she just wishes that it hadn't happened so soon.

"Um...well…my conviction rate is up to 93 percent…" she offers hoping that it will be enough to finally please her father.

Peter frowns and briefly looks back at Melissa. "Melissa what is your conviction rate?"

Melissa hesitates and nervously wrings her hands under the table. "Um…96 sir…" she answers awkwardly.

"Interesting…when I was your age I had a conviction rate of 98…what does this information suggest Alexandra?" he asks this time turning his attention back to Alex.

"That I haven't been working hard enough sir…" Alex murmurs, starting to feel ashamed in front of her parents.

"And why is that?"

"I don't know sir…I'm sorry to have disappointed you."

"Again." Her father adds on flatly.

"Right…again." Alex repeats shamefully once again.

There is another long silence among the family at the table before Melissa breaks it, forcefully throwing her fork down on the table.

"With all due respect sir, I think that Alex's conviction rate is very impressive, especially considering her ages. Not everyone can be as good as you were when you were a lawyer…" she says firmly.

Victoria widens her eyes, and the cooks along with Niles consider backing out of the room, but cautiously continue on as they place the appetizers around the table.

"Melissa, you shouldn't talk back to your father." Victoria says trying to ease the already brewing tension at the table.

Peter clenches his teeth together tightly. "On the contrary, she should. You are treading on very thin ice Melissa, your own conviction rate isn't exactly up to where it needs to be either."

Melissa scowls and glares at her father. "But why? What is your standard of good? When do we hit acceptable with you?"

"I do not find your tone acceptable Melissa. In fact, isn't it a wonder how it is you that is defending your sister, but she is not defending herself?" Peter asks glaring at his youngest daughter once again.

Alex hangs her head and softly places her hand on Melissa's wrist. "Don't…he's right. I haven't been working hard enough and it's my fault that my job evaluations aren't as high as they need to be."

"But Alex…"

"Don't." Alex cuts her off firmly, not wanting to prolong any further family disputes.

Melissa sighs irritably and sits back in her chair, folding her arms tightly across her chest. Honestly, sometimes she can't understand how they were able to function in this house as children.

"The two of you should learn how to respect me as your father. After all of the things I have done for the both of you, and considering the things that the two of you have done to repay me." Peter states disapprovingly.

Alex frowns and turns her head towards Melissa who has gone completely pale with her eyes widened to the size of the plates sitting in front of them.

She knows that her father has been exceptionally disappointed in her ever since the whole situation with Claire in high school, but she has no idea what it is Melissa has done.

Alex also knows that her father didn't particularly take a liking to either of them being interested in women. She found that out when Melissa came out in college, but since then she knows he's excepted for he was accepting of her when she starting dating in high school.

"Dad don't…" Melissa says trying to dismiss the conversation at hand.

"And why not? This is my house, and if I feel the need to talk about it I will. Are you still feeling the shame from embarrassing this family by-"

"Dad stop! I don't think that now is the time to discuss this!" Melissa shouts startling Niles who is entering the dining room once again.

Alex frowns in confusion as she watches the exchange between her sister and her father. She has no idea what's happen, and she shoots her mother a questionable look, but she only receives a solemn headshake telling her that it is best that she doesn't ask any questions at the moment.

"Um…dinner has been prepared and is ready for serving." Niles says awkwardly interrupting the family argument. All falls silent at the table as dinner is placed in front of them.

Alex sighs and rests her head in her hands briefly. She will never understand for the life of her how they are a fully functional dysfunctional family.

* * *

**Later **

Casey walks down the hall looking for Abbie when she finds her best friend laughing with a slightly shorter blonde that she's never seen before. She approaches the laughing duo just to see if she can start any sort of conversation.

"Hey I've been looking for you." Casey says poking Abbie in the shoulder.

Abbie makes a face of disapproval at her best friend's sudden appearance in her conversation.

"Well you've found me…" she mumbles indignantly. "This is Amanda Rollins. Amanda, this is…"

"Casey Novak." Casey says cutting Abbie off and extending her hand towards the blonde.

Amanda smiles and shakes Casey's hand, noticing how the taller woman slightly lingers on the handshake.

"Well it's nice to meet you. Abbie talks a lot about you, and it seems that you two are probably a lot alike." Amanda says curious on the look that Abbie is giving to the smiling redhead. "What is it you do Casey?"

"I work in white collar. And I'm assuming you're a cop, detective even?" Casey inquires noticing the badge and gun clipped to Amanda's belt.

Amanda nods at the observation. "That's right. I work in special victims, and I'm actually here while my partner gets something from Alex."

"Yes…Olivia…your partner." Abbie says trying anything to draw Casey away from the conversation.

Casey's facial expression falters a bit at the mention of yet another ex girlfriend, but it doesn't last long as she once again turns her gaze to Abbie but still addresses Amanda.

"Oh well isn't that just lovely. Are we talking just work partners or…"

"Oh, yeah, no. It's just work, and we're pretty good friends, but it's nothing more than that. I'm not seeing anyone at all." Amanda says blushing slightly.

"Huh, interesting." Casey says slowly, her interest spiking.

"Yes, it is very interesting." Abbie mutters still glaring hard at Casey out of the side of her eye.

Casey raises her eyebrow at Abbie confusedly before turning back to Amanda. "Well, you're very pretty, I can't understand why you would be single."

Amanda blushes again and nervously rubs her neck. "Um…thank you…and I don't really date that often, so that might be why…"

"Hey Casey don't you have something to go do…you know, that one thing that you had planned?" Abbie hisses through clenched teeth.

Casey gives her a look of confusion and shakes her head. "No I don't believe that I have anywhere to be at the moment." She clarifies. She then turns back to Amanda when she sees Alex about to walk past them.

She then picks up a sticky note and a pen off a random desk they're standing next to and hands them both to the detective. "So…if you give me your phone number, maybe one day we can sit down and you can tell me why you don't date that often." She concludes, showing off her signature smile.

Amanda smiles nervously before she scribbles down her phone number on the sticky note and hands it back to the flirtatious attorney. "That'd…that'd be cool I guess."

"Great." Casey says still smiling greatly as she states the sticky from the blonde. She can't help but notice out of the corner of her eye, Alex storm past them with her face completely red. Whether it's from anger or embarrassment, Casey can't tell.

The small pause is broken by Amanda's phone ringing, and she quickly checks for the message.

"Um…I have to go. Liv is waiting for me outside. It was nice meeting you Casey." She says as she puts her phone back into her pocket.

"Likewise detective….you can be looking forward to my call." Casey responds which earns her an eye roll from Abbie.

Amanda blushes again. "O-okay….um, I'll see you later Abbie." She says before bidding both attorneys goodbye.

Casey smiles after the detective and turns back to Abbie who is giving her a deathly look. If looks could kill...

"You are a dick…I cannot believe how much of a dick you are." Abbie says flatly, still frowning.

Casey raises her eyebrows at the name calling. "I've been called a lot and I think I've only been called that once. What'd I do?"

"You know exactly what you did."

"Other than indirectly as out Amanda, no I'm afraid I don't know what I did."

Abbie stands completely still for a moment before turning away from Casey and folding her arms. "…never mind. It doesn't matter."

"Okaaaay?" Casey questions still confused on what Abbie is talking about. All she knows is she can't get the image of a flustered Alex from a few moments ago out of her head, and she wonders just what the blonde was flustered about.

**Man that Cabot family dinner was…interesting….a lot of things in this chapter were interesting…This whole story is…interesting. Leave a review? **


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: Sorry I didn't post this, this morning…I think I have the flu or something, I don't even know. Anyway, here it is. I promise I'll post another one later. Enjoy. **

Casey irritably pokes at the lettuce that is on the plate creating a repetitive pinging noise that is unknowingly driving her mother insane. She can't help it that she's bored with her younger sister's story about going off to law school, it's almost like she's been talking for an hour straight.

"Casey, can you please stop making that noise." Her mother Kristine asks pleadingly as she finds herself unable to ignore the pinging any longer.

Casey sighs heavily and puts her fork on the table, not feeling the need to eat the salad. She's hungry, but her idea of food at the moment is not rabbit food. She wishes dinner would hurry up.

As soon as her sister Lindsey starts talking again, she fights the urge to roll her eyes and sigh loudly, but she knows that her parents would frown highly upon the irritable gesture.

Casey looks across the table and finds her youngest sister Hanna rolling her eyes and pushing her own salad around the plate as she becomes more and more disinterested by Lindsey's rambling. It makes Casey snickering earning her a look from Lindsey who suddenly stops talking.

"Is something funny…?" she asks staring at her older sister who is smirking back at her.

Casey shrugs her shoulders and goes back to poking at the lettuce on her plate. "Nope. I was just wondering when you were going to be done talking. I'm getting bored…"

Lindsey gasps, Hanna snickers quietly, and their parents both groan simultaneously. Leave to Casey to actually say that she's bored out loud.

"Everyone listens to you whenever you talk about work!" Lindsey tries to counter.

"I don't talk as much as you do…" Casey replies shrugging once again.

"Girls…" their father Richard warns as he sees the brewing argument forming between his daughters.

Lindsey folds her arms and sits back in her chair falling completely silent, no longer feeling the need to continue talking if no one is listening to her. Thus being another reason she hates being the middle child.

"So Casey, are you ever going to settle down with the right woman, and give me grandchildren, or am I going to have to wait on Hanna?" Kristine asks in a joking manner.

Casey makes a face and shakes her head. "No…I haven't exactly found anyone, not that I'm looking or anything." She mumbles as she hates talking about her dating status with her parents. She knows that they're aware of her dating statuses when she was younger, but they're thankfully cut off from all of her relationships now.

"You're right…she's probably not." Lindsey adds in causing Casey to flick her shoulder.

"All I'm saying is, I'm not getting any younger, and I would like some grandchildren." Kristine repeats again addressing her two oldest daughters but intentionally leaving out her youngest.

"I don't think that I'm in the position to be worried about children." Hanna says speaking up for the first time that evening.

"That's right, and it better stay that way because you're sixteen." Richard replies seriously.

Lindsey smirks as she sees Casey becoming uncomfortable being the topic of interest and she plans to use that to her advantage, getting her older sister back from interrupting her a few minutes prior.

"Do you still date as much as you used to? No, entire cheerleading squads to conquer anymore?" she questions sarcastically.

"Mind your business." Casey replies irritably. "My love life, is my business, and right now, there isn't anyone I'm interested in." _'Except a certain blonde bombshell who won't give me the time of day.' _

"You dated an entire cheerleading squad?" Hanna asks supremely dumbfounded. She isn't at all well aware of how her sister dated because of the eighteen year age difference between her and Casey, so it makes sense for her to be in the dark on the particular subject.

"It was a long time ago in high school…" Casey mumbles fully understanding just what game Lindsey is trying to play. "You're a real pain in the ass, you know that?"

Lindsey gasps and puts her hand over her heart. "Why Casey, what an awful thing to say." She says in a mock hurt tone.

"Casey don't swear at the table, and the both of you need to stop acting like children. You are both well over the age of eighteen, and I would appreciate it if the both of you would act your age." Richard says wondering why he has to discipline his daughters at the table.

Casey opens her mouth to respond but is quickly cut off by her mother interrupting her.

"Honey how is work?" the elder Novak woman asks hopefully.

"It's fine. My conviction rate is over 92 percent so I think that's pretty good." She says nonchalantly.

"Oh sweetheart that's wonderful!" her mother coos cheerfully.

"I'm so proud of you. My little girl, following in my footsteps, and then another one is well on her way. I'm just so proud. Now if only I could get Hanna away from this delusion of wanting to be a cop." He says in a non serious manner earning a laugh from the rest of the table.

After dinner is over, Casey is worried when she is called into the main family room by her mother. As the oldest, she should be used to these kinds of things, but she'd be lying if she said that she was.

"What's her name?" Kristine asks as Casey enters the room and sits next to her on the couch.

Casey makes a face and gives her mother a look of confusion. "What are you talking about…?"

"There's a woman…I can tell. Either you are seeing someone and you just won't tell me, or there is someone that you are interested in and you just won't tell me. A mother knows these things honey."

Casey nervously rubs the back of her neck. "Oh…um…her name is Alex…" she mumbles.

"Hm…what's she like?" Kristine asks as she nods her head, motioning for her daughter to go on.

"I think she's amazing. She's super intelligent and really beautiful, but the thing is…she won't talk to me…"

"Why's that?"

Casey shrugs in response, not wanting to answer the question, and most definitely not wanting to explain to her mother about everything that has exactly gone on in her life lately.

"Well, I'm highly sure that there is a reason she won't talk to you, but it's fine if you don't want to share what that is for now. I wish I could give you better advice than to say that she'll come around, because you make it extremely hard for someone not to talk to you." Kristine answers.

Casey nods her head and briefly looks away from her mother. If she only had any idea…

* * *

**Meanwhile…**

"I cannot believe this. Is that just what she does?" Alex asks Serena as she quickly paces her living room.

Serena raises her eyebrows at her best friend and leans back into the couch. "You sound jealous. Are you jealous?"

Alex shoots Serena a hard glare and points her finger. "I am not jealous, don't you dare say I'm jealous. I don't get jealous. I just find it highly offending that she tries to have sex with me and then literally almost a week later, she's hitting on some other woman; that some other woman being one of my detectives nonetheless!"

Serena purses her lips and shakes her head at Alex's outbursts. "You're jealous…" she mumbles quietly, but not quiet enough because Alex hears her.

"I'm not jealous Serena!"

"Then why else would you be making such a huge deal out of this? Look, okay I admit that she is wrong, hell, I know that she's wrong, I dated her remember? I woke up one morning and she was just gone. Any trace of her being there was nonexistent minus the note that she left that said she was breaking up with me. You don't have it hard Alex, it could be way worse. I'm just saying, if you weren't jealous, you wouldn't care so much that she was hitting on Amanda."

Alex folds her arms and continues to pace back and forth. Serena is wrong. There is absolutely no way that she is jealous that Casey was flirting with someone else. They aren't together and it doesn't matter to her what Casey does with another woman. She just finds it supremely offensive that she moves on so fast.

"But still, it is completely irrational and disgusting that she would just do that and just move on. It's appalling." She mutters, voicing her frustrations.

Serena rolls her eyes and shakes her head. "Weren't you the one that told her to not talk to you again?"

"Yes but…"

"But what Alex? You're so focused on being right that you're completely missing the point here! You're jealous. You're jealous because Casey wanted you, realized she couldn't have you, and moved on. If you want to date her, then why don't you just stand up and tell her, instead of doing this? I honestly hate it when you do this. You over think which in turns may end up giving you an anxiety attack and you know how you are when you get those. Plus, I can't see the television with you pacing like this!"

Alex stares at Serena for a moment before plopping down in a chair and folding her arms tightly across her chest. She isn't wrong, she's never wrong. It's Casey whose wrong.

"I don't want to date her…" she mumbles quietly.

"Then stop worrying about what she's doing and with who!" Serena says as she feels like she's just been repeating herself for the past fifteen minutes.

* * *

**Later **

"Are you mad at me or something?" Casey questions as she and Abbie sit on her couch playing Call of Duty.

Abbie simply shakes her head and remains focused on the television in front of her, not vocally responding to Casey's question.

"But you haven't really said anything to me lately, and you only ever do that when you're mad at me. Are you going to tell me what I did?" she questions once again.

"I'm not mad at you." Abbie says quietly, hoping that Casey will drop the subject.

"Abbie c'mon…is this about what happened in Europe with Alex? I can apologize to her if that will make you happy." Casey offers, trying to find out what it is that she's done.

Abbie shakes her head and doesn't show any sign of emotion when her character blows up Casey's character on the screen. This lets Casey know that something is definitely wrong. Usually there is this whole celebration whenever Abbie beats her at anything.

Casey pauses the game and puts her controller on the coffee table before turning towards her best friend.

"Come on….will you please tell me what I did so I can fix it? I really don't like it when you're mad at me." she says once again.

Abbie finds it to embarrassing to voice her feelings, even to her best friend, so she simply settles on shaking her head once again.

"I already told you, I'm not mad at you. I'm just…tired. That's all." she lies miserably.

Casey raises her eyebrows and doesn't by the story at all. "You're lying. Abbie, what did I do? It is about not apologizing to Alex isn't it? I know she's your friend and I kind of in a way took advantage of her, and now you're upset with me. It makes sense. Right?"

Abbie sighs and shakes her head once again. "Can you please leave it alone? I'm not mad at you. I don't know how many more times I'll have to say it…"

Casey sits still for a moment before she slowly nods her head. She can't understand what she's done to make her best friend angry with her, but she knows it's something.

**Hm…..interesting differences between the two familes here isn't it? Hm….**

**Again, I don't know what it is about Casey, Abbie, and video games. I can just see them playing video games. Lol. Leave a review? **


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: I blame this chapter on my illness…I wish it could be better :( sorry guys. Hope you enjoy it anyway. **

Alex fights tears one day as she sits in her office. She can't seem to focus on anything and she feels like she's doing absolutely nothing right. It's actually giving her a headache.

Her father's words from their family dinner keep playing over and over in her mind. She hates that he sees her as such a failure, and she doesn't know what it is she can do to make up for doing just that; failing.

The words on the scattered pages in front of her look as if they've been written in some sort of nonexistent language, and she can't make sense of any of it. She starts to become overly frustrated from being unable to focus on anything, and she starts to think of how her father is going to continue to berate her for continuing to fail him. And that's when it hits her.

Alex's hands start trembling uncontrollably and she feels as if it's suddenly gotten to be a thousand degrees in her office. She swears that the room is beginning to close in and it's as if all of the oxygen has been sucked away from her.

Feeling trapped, Alex manages to push her self away from her desk and uneasily stumbles towards her door. She opens the door and is only able to take about two steps when her legs turn to complete Jell-o. She falls on her hands and knees and begins to hyperventilate, drawing the attention of the attorneys and interns around her.

Thankfully Kim and Serena are having a conversation nearby and their curiosity peaks upon seeing the gathered bunch of people with worried looks as if they don't know what to do.

"What's happening…" Kim mutters as she and Serena make their way towards the crowd, wondering why it oddly resembles that of a crowd of a middle school fight onlookers.

They quickly force their way through and are met with the horrifying sight of Alex down on her hands and knees, hyperventilating uncontrollably.

"Oh my god…" Serena mumbles as she and Kim reach the trembling blonde on the floor. "Alex, honey, Kim and I are here okay? Do you think you can stand?"

Alex can't find any way to control any of her muscles so in turn she finds her self completely unable to respond to Serena's questions. She feels as if her throat is clogged by an unknown factor, and she still can't bring herself to breath properly.

"She's going to pass out if she doesn't stop hyperventilating. Will someone get me a chair?!" Kim shouts, collectively startling their crowd of onlookers.

Serena drags over the offered chair and it takes an extensive amount of team effort for both her and Kim to get the shaking attorney into the chair. Once they've gotten her

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settled, they realize they have got to find away to keep her from being her own cause of passing out.

"Alex, can you please try to take deep breaths with me?" Serena asks as Kim tries to keep Alex's hands from flailing all over the place.

"Ow, holy hell!" the brunette lets out a shout as Alex involuntarily latches on to her wrist cutting of the circulation in the process. "Okay…just…please try to breathe…Serena has she been taking her medication…"

"I don't know…probably not, you know how she is." Serena mumbles back as she tries to coach Alex through deep breaths.

"Is she alright? Do we need to call 911?" A young intern asks, voicing the concerns off all the people around them.

Serena shakes her head as she continues to tend to her best friend. "No…yeah she's…she has anxiety attacks, this is just one of them. She'll be okay once we get her to calm down."

Alex's body finally begins to allow her to take deep breaths and she feels herself returning to a rationalized reality, where things make sense. Her grip on Kim's wrist relinquishes, yet her hands continue to still slightly shake.

"Alex, are we okay?' Kim asks softly placing her hand on the blonde's shoulder.

Alex shakily nods her head as her breathing rate as well as the room temperature, slowly begins to return to normal.

"I-I…o-okay…can I…water?" she stutters out choppily.

Serena stands up from her squatting position and hastily moves to Alex's office to retrieve a bottle of water. Seconds later, she returns with the water, and hands it to Alex who shakily takes small sips of it.

"Are you okay now?" Kim asks once again as both she and Serena help Alex steady herself on her feet.

Alex nods her head and allows her friends to help her make her way back to her office, away from the still worried looking crowd. Serena closes the door behind them and watches as Kim helps Alex get settled on the couch.

"What happened?" Serena asks quietly as she drags a chair to sit in front of her two friends on the couch.

"I-I don't know…I was just working, and it just happened." Alex responds, not wanting to tell either of them about the things that her father has said to her.

"You have to take your medicine…if you don't they're going to happen more frequently, and that's something we don't want to happen." Kim says sincerely.

Alex nods again and sighs heavily as she runs her fingers through her hair. Not once has she ever had one of her attacks at work, and she hates that all of those people saw it happen.

"Do you want to go home? I'm sure that Liz would understand if you told her what happened." Serena offers.

At this Alex vigorously shakes her head. 'My father wouldn't approve of me leaving during a work day. My conviction rate isn't going to get any higher if I have to leave.'

"No, I'll be okay. I really need to stay and finish this." She says, her words speaking more to herself than the two women in front of her.

**Later **

"I really need to get laid…" Casey groans as she lets her arm hang on to the floor from where she's sprawled out on Abbie's living room couch.

"You always need to get laid." Abbie responds blandly.

"I'm serious; it feels like forever since I've had sex…" Casey whines in response. She pauses for a moment before she pokes Abbie in the side of the head. "Wanna have sex?"

Abbie makes a face and turns to her best friend, a little worried to find that Casey is being completely serious.

"Do I wanna…No! We're best friend's Casey that'd be super weird, and I'm not going to have sex with you just so you can feel replenished." She states firmly.

Casey whines and continues to poke Abbie in her head. "C'mon…just a quickie…plus, I don't think we've ever hooked up at all. Don't all best friends hook up at least once just to see what it's like? I bet Alex has hooked up with Serena."

Abbie makes another face and shakes her head. "I don't think I'm comfortable mentally visualizing that…"

"Cuz you know it's super hot. But seriously, I thought all best friends did that." Casey wonders again.

"Well not this best friend. How was your date with Amanda anyway…?" Abbie asks reluctantly.

Casey sits up and shrugs her shoulders. "It was nice I guess. I mean, we kissed after I took her home, but it didn't really get past that. You see, she felt bad, because after we kissed she told me that she has a crush on an incompetent best friend of mine. I'm assuming that same best friend has a crush on as well."

Abbie blushes and averts her gaze to anything other that Casey. "I didn't know how to tell her…so since I didn't know how to tell her, I definitely couldn't find a way to tell you that I like her. I'm not good with these kinds of things. I wasn't sure if she liked me at all, and I didn't want to get rejected or anything. I feel like a teenager."

"You're blushing like a teenager too. She knows that you like her, idiot. You should ask her out; she wants you to." Casey says chuckling.

"Really? She said that?"

"Duh…I wouldn't lie to you about this. You need to ask her out."

Abbie grins and nods, feeling that awkward feeling of butterflies floating around in her insides. It's a strange unnerving feeling for her, and she can say that she's probably never felt it before. That is something she will most definitely not be sharing.

They sit there laughing about a conversation for a moment before Abbie stands up from her spot on the floor and stretches. "I'm gonna go run into the kitchen real quick. Do you want anything?"

"…have any vodka?" Casey asks raising an eyebrow.

Abbie pauses and stares at Casey questioning on whether or not she's being serious. "Case…"

"Abbie I'm kidding. Water is fine." She answers.

Abbie sighs in relief and continues on into the kitchen. She really wasn't in the mood to have _that _conversation with Casey. She's just stepped into the kitchen when she hears knocking on her front door.

"Can you get that?" she calls out to Casey.

Casey mumbles to herself as she gets off of the comfortable couch. She's not the maid, and she shouldn't have to answer the door, but then again, she doesn't want to be kicked out so she probably should to comply with whatever Abbie asks her to do. But that doesn't mean she can't be snarky about it.

"Yes your highness!" she calls back as she moves forward to the front door. She quickly undoes the locks and swings the door open, only to be met with probably one of the last people on earth she's wanted to see.

"Olivia?"

A very confused Detective Benson stands on the other side of the door completely unprepared to be standing in front of her ex girlfriend. Then again, how does one particularly plan for things like this?

"Casey? Wow…uh, hi…what're you doing here?" she asks curiously, suddenly wondering if she should turn around and leave.

"I'm um…just hanging out with Abbie…" Casey answers lamely. Thankfully Abbie appears behind her saving her from the pit of embarrassment she was about to fall into.

"Hey Liv, you can come in." Abbie says stepping aside so the detective can enter her apartment.

Olivia reluctantly steps inside and follows Abbie into the living room. Out of the corner of her eye she can't help but notice Casey watching her intently as if she's waiting for something. It's actually starting to weird Liv out a little bit.

"Um…so are you finished with my DVD?" Olivia asks remembering what exactly it was that she came for.

Abbie nods her head. "Oh yeah, lemme get it. It's in my bedroom." She says before disappearing upstairs, leaving the two ex lovers alone with each other.

"So…" Olivia says awkwardly, doing anything to break the silence.

"How're you?" Casey asks just as awkwardly.

"I've been…well. Busy with…work and stuff you know."

"Yeah, that's how it always is…" Casey responds, only to receive a certain look from the brunette. It isn't until that she realizes how bad that sounds as she recalls the reasons she remembers giving Olivia for why she was breaking up with her; because she worked too much.

"I wasn't implying anything by that…I was just…saying…we all have to work a lot…and…yeah…um…yeah…" she states, lamely trying to fix it.

Olivia shoves her hands in her pockets and shrugs. "It doesn't matter. It's in the past right? I kind of got over it after you wouldn't call me back after three weeks."

Casey snaps her mouth shut and says nothing more. She must admit that she kind of does deserve the comment, but she is once again thankful that Abbie shows up once again as her savior from another awkward encounter.

"Here's your show back." Abbie says handing Olivia a stack of DVD cases. "It was interesting…although I thought it was a little weird how that one woman literally has a pet turtle."

"He's a _tortoise_ Abbie!" Olivia exclaims exasperatedly.

Abbie rolls her eyes and shrugs. "Whatever, turtle, tortoise; it's the same thing. And also, that detective looks nothing like me…at all."

"Oh my god, but you do!" Liv exclaims once again.

"I don't…and just for that, I am throwing you out of my house. Now move it!" Abbie says jokingly.

Liv rolls her eyes and sticks out her tongue. "Suit yourself. I need to be on my way anyway. Glad that you at least watched it and liked it. Bye Casey." The detective calls out as she and Abbie bid their goodbyes.

Abbie returns to the living room where she chuckles at the familiar 'what the fuck just happened' look on Casey's face. Ah, it's always priceless to see it.

"Did she give you a good ass chewing?" the brunette asks plopping down next to her best friend.

"She might as well have. You should have seen the way she was looking at me. And how is it the Liv can get you to watch Rizzoli and Isles, but when I said you should watch it you completely blow me off?" Casey questions feigning hurt.

"Cuz Liv has a gun and a license to use it." Abbie counters.

Casey stares blankly before nodding her head. "Valid point."

They fall into a comfortable silence before Abbie narrows her eyes and turns to Casey with a question.

"I have a question. Don't hurt yourself by thinking to hard, and trust me you'll have a lot of thinking to do. But what is the strangest woman that you've dated?" she asks.

Casey face contorts into concentration as she thinks of anyone who comes to mind. She hums for a moment before coming up with something.

"Uh, I don't know…oh! I once dated this one chick; she was probably maybe two and a half years older than me. She was very…much like Alex now that I think about it. Uptight, conservative, modest, minus the whole rejecting me part. Think her name was Melissa."

Abbie's eyes nearly pop out of her head and she actually starts choking on air. She turns to Casey with the same wide eyed expression.

"Melissa…do you know her last name?" she asks hesitantly.

Casey thinks for a moment and then shakes her head. "Nah, not really. Why, you think you might know her?"

Abbie shakes her head and her voice shoots up about three octaves. "Nope…just wondering. Melissa is a very common name that's all…"

"Huh, alright then. But yeah, I remember dating her. It was…interesting. Not interesting in a bad way, but interesting in a good way. So anyway, why do you ask?"

Abbie shakes her head once again and scrambles for her television remote. "I don't remember. Hey, how about we find that Rizzoli and Isles show on TV somewhere…maybe you can convince me to keep watching it."

Casey frowns but nods her head nonetheless. She wonders why Abbie all of a sudden has become so squeaky and aggravated. It's weird, but she shrugs it off.

Abbie however tries to keep her eyes from bugging once again as she continues to flip through the channels_. 'Damnit why am I always the one who finds out these kinds of things?' _

**You're right, I can't really see Abbie paired with Amanda either. But I wanna be different for once…if that's okay with you guys. If it's not I'll change it. **

**As for the story….hm…..more secrets…even little ones that you had to be REALLY observant to catch. I did say things would be interesting...this is only the beginning. Leave a review? **


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: Had to change the rating because things get…kind of dirty in this chapter. Anyway, enjoy. **

Casey saunters down the hall towards Alex's office in a relatively good mood. She just hopes that for once Alex would be in a good mood, but then again, she's rarely seen that happen.

She opens the door and steps in unannounced, something that she's made a habit of doing, and each time she does it, she never ceases to annoy Alex. Anyway, she watches Alex stare intently at the papers scattered across her desk. The look of determined concentration on her face is something that Casey can't help but find extremely adorable.

"What do you want…" Alex mumbles with out looking up from her work. Only three people walk in to her office with out knocking and that's Kim, Casey, and Serena. She can only tell the difference because Kim and Serena usually come in with something to say. Casey, however, likes to watch her for a moment before voicing her presence.

"Am I allowed to answer, or am I still not allowed to talk to you?" Casey retorts smugly.

Alex rolls her eyes but continues to look at her work. "Well seeing as you can't take a hint, I've sort of given up. But seriously, I'm working. What is it you want?"

"See, now I think you're just trying to get rid of me." is yet another smug answer.

This annoys Alex and she sits down her pen, this time actually looking up at Casey, but her eyes are a little less than inviting.

"And if I am trying to get rid of you?" she suggests harshly.

Casey clicks her tongue and shakes her head. "Then I would say that is not very nice of you. You know, you tend to not be a very nice person."

Alex purses her lips and rolls her eyes yet again. She notices that she seems to do that a lot around Casey.

"Gee, I wonder why…" she mumbles irritably.

Casey nods her head in agreement to the sarcastic statement. "Yeah! Why is that?"

"Because I tend to be a not be a very nice person to people I dislike, and I don't like you."

"So you've said, but yet you were okay to have sex with me a few weeks ago."

Alex blushes furiously and narrows her eyes in a hard glare. "We did not have sex."

"But we were going to." Casey retorts quickly with raises eyebrows.

Alex scowls once again and sits back in her chair, not wanting to have this type of conversation at work. Honestly, it just embarrasses her to even think about it.

"Can we not talk about this here?" she says exasperatedly.

"But when can we talk about it? You aren't exactly inviting of talking to me about it. I just want to talk Alex; is that too much to ask?" Casey questions pleadingly.

Alex stares at her for a moment before she sighs heavily and picks up a pen and one of her cards. She scribbles something on the back of the card and hands it to Casey across the desk.

"Here's my address. You can come by later and we can…talk." She mutters, hoping that she isn't going to regret this.

Casey reads over the card and nods her head solemnly. "Okay. Oh, um…I also kind of wanted to know if you're doing okay. I heard about what happened…people…talk."

Alex blushes slightly but nods nonetheless. "Yeah. It's sad to say, but my anxiety attacks are kind of a regular thing. They've just never happened at work before. It was really embarrassing now that I think about it."

"Oh…well I'm sorry it happened." Casey says sincerely as she stands and makes her way towards the door. She's about to leave when she hears Alex speak to her again.

"Hey Casey?"

"Yeah?"

Alex hesitates for a moment before she continues on. "Thanks…for asking about me…"

Casey smiles thoroughly surprised that Alex showed a small hint of gratitude. "Just wanted to make sure you were alright. I'll see you later."

"Yeah…see you later." Alex mumbles. She sincerely hopes that she isn't going to regret the decision she's just made.

**Later **

"We're just talking Kim…" Alex says into the receiver of her phone.

Kim snorts and begins laughing on her end of the phone. "Right…just talking. No woman ever lets Casey Novak into her house and they 'just talk'. I think Abbie is the only person that has the privilege to speak those words."

"And after tonight, I will too, because that's all that's happening. Why are you being a snarky perv?"

"Cause I wanna see how long you think you're gonna hold out. Serena told me about how jealous you got whenever you saw Casey flirting with Amanda."

Alex scowls at the phone as if it were the one that made the comment. "I was not jealous…"

Kim makes a 'pfft' noise and starts laughing again. "Sure you weren't. You're also a really bad liar, I can tell from over here. Look, jealous or not jealous and talking or not talking, just keep you eyes open. Casey has a way of finding her way in, and I'm talking about in more ways than one."

Alex makes a face and shakes her head. "You really are a perv you know that…" she says jokingly. She hears a knock at her door and she moves from her spot on the couch to answer it. "She's here, so I think I'm gonna have to go."

"I'm just saying…keep your eyes open. Don't do anything I wouldn't do!" Kim says cheerfully before ending the phone call.

Alex places her cell phone on the counter on her way to the door. She makes her way through the foyer where she quickly undoes the locks and swings open the door to a waiting Casey.

"For a moment, I thought that you'd pretend you weren't home." Casey says smirking.

Alex makes a face of disapproval and steps aside, allowing the other woman to enter her apartment. "Well…it was a thought." She mumbles as she redoes the latches and follows Casey into the living room.

Casey mentally hums in amazement as she glances around Alex's very modernized apartment. Everything from the furniture to the wall length windows screams money, but it's not something that Casey isn't used to.

"You have a really nice apartment." She says, sitting down when Alex motions for her to do so.

"Thank you. My mother decorated." She answers tersely. "Um…do you want anything? Like…wine or something?"

Casey shakes her head and stares at her hands. "No, I…I don't drink. I don't really want anything, but thank you."

Alex nods her head and sits down on the couch as well, but making sure that she has put enough respectable distance between her and Casey.

"So…you wanted to talk. So…talk." She says after a small silence.

Casey sighs and turns so she's facing Alex. "Why are you so mad at me because of what happened? You had as much involvement with it as I did."

Alex purses her lips and folds her arms tightly across her chest. "You don't understand. You can't just…do that. I'm not like that."

"But you let it happen…" Casey answers back quickly.

"And I shouldn't have. It was a mistake." Alex answers with just as much quickness as before hand.

Casey sighs and slowly inches a little closer to Alex. "Which brings me to, why you were so jealous whenever you saw me flirting with your detective."

Alex turns completely red and she wishes she could curl into a little ball and disappear.

"I was not jealous…" she mumbles. She flinches as she realizes she's trying to convince not only Casey, but she's also trying to convince her self.

Casey however, is having none of it. "But you were. I could tell. Just by the way that you looked at us whenever we were talking. It wasn't hard to tell that you were fuming Alex, your face is a dead give away. But if you don't feel anything for me, why were you jealous…?"

Alex sits stock still for a moment and stares straight ahead of her. "Because…I don't know. I don't like to think that I was jealous, because I don't get jealous. But it bothered me that you would try to sleep with me, and that not even a week later you were already hitting on someone else."

Casey raises her eyebrows and a small smirk plays at her lips. "So…you did wish that we had finished what we started in your hotel room."

"I did not say that."

"It was implied."

Alex falls completely silence again, because she has absolutely no idea of what to say. She feels like all of her intelligence has just suddenly flown out the window.

She still hasn't said a word, when she feels Casey's hand on her face, turning it so they can be facing each other. She turns, and suddenly feels the familiar sensation of Casey's lips pressed against her own.

Alex is completely still in the moment of the kiss, before she succumbs to the intensity of the kiss, and she places her hand on the back of Casey's neck, holding her in place.

Casey breaks the kiss after a few more short seconds. She tilts her head and begins placing soft kisses along Alex's jaw line, until she reaches her neck. Her tongue darts out and she licks a trail from Alex's neck up to her ear, where she softly bites down on the blonde's earlobe.

" Vous voulez que cette…" Casey whispers hotly into Alex's ear.

Alex shivers and close her eyes at the sensation of Casey's breath on her skin.

"Nous ne devrions pas faire cette." She manages to respond, her voice quivering from lust.

Casey kisses her way back to Alex's lips where she pulls them into another heated kiss.

"Dites-moi que vous voulez que je." She whispers against Alex's lips.

Alex hesitates for a moment before she finds the words in her throat to respond. "Je veux que vous…" she replies reluctantly.

Casey presses their lips together once again, but this time, takes note of Alex's parted lips, and she quickly but gently pushes her tongue into the blonde's mouth. She grins when she feels Alex's tongue hesitantly meet her own.

Their lips glide smoothly against each other, and their tongues tangle in a smooth dance. Casey pulls away once again and runs hr fingers through long blonde tresses.

"Permettez-moi de te faire l'amour…" she whispers, her tone slightly begging.

Alex swallows the thick lump in her throat before she shakily nods her head. Once again, all rationality is thrown out the window, but this time, she's not sure if she cares.

"B-bedroom…" she stutters out, nervously taking Casey's hand in her own.

Alex has a stunning sense of déjà vu as she once again feels Casey's hands roaming her body, as they stumble into her bedroom. She leads the redhead over to her bed and quickly moves up the bed towards the headboard.

Casey follows Alex up the bed and she lets her fingers tug at the hem of the blonde's shirt. She once again discards the useless garment somewhere randomly in the room, and connects their lips once more.

Alex's fingers shakily undo the buttons on Casey's shirt. Once she's finished, she slides the shirt down the other woman's arms and tosses it over the edge of the bed as well.

Alex gasps and arches her back off the mattress when she feels Casey begin running her hands over her bra clad breasts. The feeling sends a new wave of heat between her legs, and she needs more of it.

Casey smiles at Alex's silent plead to release her from her restraints. She skillfully reaches around and unclasps Alex's bra with one hand, all the while still kissing a trail up and down her neck.

Alex groans as she feels Casey's fingers brush against her breasts as she slides the bra straps down her arms. The coil in the pit of her stomach tightens even more as her need becomes even greater.

Casey sits up and admires the woman beneath her; her perfect mounds rising and falling from trying to catch her breath.

"Good god you're so beautiful." She breaths out. She dips her head and nuzzles Alex's breast before she takes the hardened bud into her mouth. She alternates between suckling, and softly nipping, all the while massaging the other in her hand.

Alex moans pleasurably as she feels Casey's skilled tongue paying extraordinary attention to her breasts, but it still isn't enough. The teasing is beginning to kill her.

"C-Casey…stop teasing me." she stutters out miserably.

Casey releases Alex's nipple with a small 'pop' and grins broadly. She's finding it extremely arousing to watch Alex come completely unwound just by simple foreplay. She undoes the buttons of her own pants and kicks the offending garment off the edge of the bed, before she slides Alex's skirt down her legs, doing the same with it as well.

"You have a thing about black lace don't you?" Casey questions teasingly as she moves down the panting woman's body. She chuckles when she hears Alex huff greatly in response.

"Do you want me to touch you here?" Casey asks, as she ghosts her fingers up Alex's inner thigh. She receives another drawn out groan as an answer

"Casey please…" Alex whines, as Casey is so close but yet so far from where she needs to be touched most.

Casey grins as she hooks her fingers into Alex's panties, and ever so slowly pulls them off, finally exposing the blonde completely. Her grin broadens when she can physically smell just how aroused the other woman is for her.

She moves down, and slowly moves her tongue through Alex's slick folds, just barely touching the aching bundle of nerves.

Alex arches off of the mattress once again and softly whimpers at the disconnection of Casey's warm tongue on her clit.

"Oh my god…Casey please…more." she begs once again, needing to feel more contact.

"You're a very demanding woman, Counselor." Casey purrs seductively before she moves her head back down once again. This time, she wraps her lips around the swollen bud and begins to suck mercilessly.

Alex begins to moan uncontrollably as her fingers begin to tangle themselves into Casey's red locks. It's been forever since she's been touched in this way, and she's almost forgotten how amazing it feels.

As her tongue busies itself with Alex's clit, Casey takes the opportunity to slide two fingers into Alex's hot center.

Alex gasps as she feels Casey's long fingers enter her at a teasingly slow pace. She doesn't feel like she's going to be able to hold on any longer with the way that she's being teased.

"Casey….oh god…harder." She begs, needing to feel more pressure.

"As you wish." Casey hums in response as she inserts her fingers at a faster and much deeper pace than before.

Alex moans loudly once again and her fingers move from Casey's hair where she begins to claw uncontrollably at the sheets. Her hips lift from the bed, matching Casey's thrusts perfectly as her fingers continue to pump in and out of her repeatedly.

Just when Casey is sure that Alex is about to completely let go, she removes her fingers completely and plops down next to the blonde.

Alex's eyes pop open and she whimpers at the loss of Casey's fingers inside of her. She turns her head and finds Casey smirking at her all the while sucking on her own fingers.

"W-what are you doing?" Alex whimpers out wondering why Casey didn't finish her. "Y-you c-can't just leave me like this."

Casey smirk broadens as she sees the pleading look in Alex's eyes. It's something that she's never seen before what with the way the other attorney is normally. Conserved, modest, and cold about everything. It actually turns her on even more.

"Did you want me to finish you?" she coos, placing her hand on Alex's cheek. She finds it completely adorable that she receive a pout and a head nod in response. "Then ride me."

Alex's eyes widen as she stares at Casey wiggling her fingers at her. It has probably been almost a year since she's been with someone intimately, and even before that she can say that she's never really done something like that.

"But Casey I…I haven't done this in so long….and even before that I don't think...I've never done that…" she admits shamefully.

"You'll do it if you want to get off." Casey whispers huskily, succeeding in turning on the blonde even more.

Alex takes a quiet deep breath before she positions herself on top of Casey; her center hovering over the redhead's waiting fingers. Slowly, she guides her self down, and gasps when she feels the pressure inside of her once again. Once she's situated, she slowly begins to move herself up and down, creating a new type of friction that she's never felt before.

Casey smiles greatly as she watches the usually kept together Alex Cabot, get herself off by riding her fingers. Not only was the gesture about pleasing the blonde, but it was also about seeing Alex completely vulnerable for once.

After awhile, Casey feels Alex's muscles begin to contract around her hand, and soon the blonde is releasing, with a long drawn out moan. She helps Alex ride out her orgasm until the blonde collapses on top of her from exhaustion.

She holds Alex close to her, their naked sweat cover bodies pressed against each other as they both try to catch their breath from the prior event. Casey moves the sheet over the both of them as they come down from their sexually charged high.

"I think you've ruined me." Alex mumbles into Casey's neck.

"You aren't going to regret this in the morning are you?" Casey asks before she places a soft kiss on Alex's forehead.

Alex pauses for a moment before she shakes her head. She supremely hopes that she doesn't regret it in the morning, but she's going to worry about that when she gets there.

* * *

**The Next Morning **

Alex awakens the next morning, snuggling closely into Casey's warm body. She yawns and turns over to look at the time and see that it's probably a quarter past seven. Thankfully she doesn't have to work, because she isn't really sure that she could find the energy to go.

"I think that I can get used to waking up next to you." Casey says smugly, watching Alex adjust to the morning daylight.

"Well, you don't disappoint either." Alex replies, matching Casey for her smugness.

"So I take it that you don't regret what happened last night?"

"…no, I don't. On usual circumstances I would say that I did, but in truth, I really didn't…"

Casey ahs and pauses before she deems it safe to continue. "So…what does this make us?" she asks gazing at the ceiling.

Alex sighs and props herself up on her elbow. "I really don't know…I mean, is this just a one time thing, were we sleep together, and then you get up and pretend that it never even happened, and completely forget about me?"

Casey frowns and looks away from the ceiling. "What makes you think that I would do that to you?"

Alex plops back down on the bed and runs her fingers through her hair, straightening it. "Casey, you cannot hostels say that you haven't done that to women before."

Casey snaps her mouth shut and falls completely silent letting Alex know that she's right. She has done that to women before, but she's never really thought much of it. After all, they never speak again afterwards anyway.

"See? That's what I mean. I need to know that you're actually willing to commit to me, and I'm not just some tally mark in your book. I need to know that you won't leave me crying and heartbroken like you left my friends…"

Casey closes her eyes and nods her head to Alex's request. "I can do that." she answers confidently.

In truth, her confident answer isn't all that confident at all. She doesn't know if she's telling the truth or if she's still trying to convince her self that she will able to commit. Unfortunately, she's leaning more towards the latter rather than the former.

**Yeah so…that was my first ever sex scene in literally ANYTHING I have written so…yeah, that's probably why it is very slacking. Anyway, I'm thinking of doing some sort of flashback dealing with Casey's relationship with Alex's sister, so…lemme know your thoughts on that. **

**Translations for sexy French words ;): **

**Vous voulez que cette (You want this) **

**Nous ne devrions pas faire cette (We shouldn't do this) **

**Dites-moi que vous voulez que je (Tell me you want me)**

**Je veux que vous (I want you) **

**Permettez-moi de te faire l'amour (Let me make love to you) **


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: Here we are. Another chapter. Hm…is all I shall say. **

Casey is lounging comfortably on Alex's couch waiting for the blonde to finish with her shower. She had suggested they shower together to 'conserve water', but Alex had put up a pretty valid argument saying that she actually wants to shower instead of being distracted by any sort of extracurricular activities.

She's just gotten deep into a game of temple run on her phone, when Alex gracefully comes down the stairs and plops next to Casey on the couch.

"I see that you've found a way to entertain yourself." Alex says as she watches Casey focus on the ridiculous, yet addictive mobile game.

"Yeah well, seeing as a certain somebody was taking exceptionally long in the shower, I had to find something to do." Casey counters, ending her game and setting her cell phone on the coffee table.

Alex playfully rolls her eyes and stands up once again and moving around her living room looking for her own cell phone.

"Well that certain somebody is so sorry that she got lost in the moment of her wonderful shower. Hey lazy bones, can you help me look for my cell phone? It has to be down her somewhere."

Casey sighs drastically before moving from the couch. "Fine…if I really have to." She says dramatically, earning her a look from Alex.

The two move around the living room both in search of Alex's phone and both coming up empty. While Alex checks in the kitchen, Casey walks up to the mantle above the fireplace. She searches all along the mantle before she becomes distracted and intrigued by the pictures that Alex has sitting up there.

There's a picture of Alex and another woman smiling on a beach, a picture of Serena, Kim, and Alex all doing goofy poses, a picture with the same woman from the first picture but much younger, with a much younger looking Alex and what looks like a graduation. She feels like she knows the woman from somewhere, but she can't quite put her finger on where it is at the moment.

"Here it is, I left it on the counter last night." Alex says, retrieving her cell phone from it's hiding spot. She then moves across the room to where Casey is studying all of the photos above her fireplace. "Whatcha doin?"

"Looking at your pictures." Casey mumbles, barely hearing what Alex asked her.

"Oh, I see. Yeah it may not seem like it, but I actually love taking pictures. I actually have a lot of albums; these are just some of my favorites. That's my older sister." Alex says pointing to the woman the redhead has been studying intently.

Casey's frown deepens as things start to come back to her. "You…have an older sister?"

"Yeah, she's just a little over two years older than me. Her name's Melissa." Alex informs her, moving away from the fireplace.

Everything comes back to Casey in a split second and she stands completely frozen in place for what feels like a century but in reality it's only a few seconds. She blinks several times hoping and praying that this is some sort of joke, but sadly, it's not.

"Oh…um…that's interesting." She mumbles miserably moving away from the mantle as well. She glances at Alex and grimaces at how she blindly wasn't able to make the connection any sooner because of the resemblance between the sisters.

Casey moves around the living room and picks up her coat from the chair she laid it on the night before. "I have to leave actually…"

"What? Why? It's a Saturday." Alex questions concernedly.

Casey shrugs on her coat and then wraps her arms around Alex's waist. "I know…I just…I forgot that I have to be somewhere this morning. But, let me take you out later. Just you and me; our first date. How's that sound?"

Alex nods and gratefully accepts the kiss that Casey gives her. The kiss is warm and chaste but it lasts for the perfect amount of seconds.

"I'd like that." Alex whispers nuzzling into Casey's hand. "What time should I be ready?"

"I'll pick you up at seven thirty. Dress classy, but I know you won't have any problem doing that." Casey responds giving Alex another peck on the lips.

"Great, I'll see you then." Alex says as she sees Casey out the door.

Casey briskly walks down the hall towards the elevator. She impatiently taps her foot and nearly runs into the lift when it arrives. Once inside, she heavily rests her head against the wall and squeezes her eyes shut. _'Fuck, this is bad._'

* * *

_BANG. BANG. BANG. BANG. BANG. _

Abbie is startled from her peaceful slumber by the wretched recurring banging on her front door. She glances at the time, and deems it far to early for a Saturday morning for anyone to be coming and disturbing her.

She puts the pillow over her head in an attempt to block out the irritating noise, but it does no use. It fact, it's almost as if the knocking has become even louder. Sitting up, Abbie throws off all of her blankets and forces herself to get out of her comfortable bed.

"Who the hell has the nerve to wake me up at this time of morning on a Saturday. Don't people know that I need to sleep." she mutters indignantly as she makes her way through her apartment.

Abbie trudges through the foyer and reaches her door before she slowly unlatches the locks. She swings open the door to give who ever it is a piece of her mind. Her face contorts into an even more annoyed scowl as she realizes that it's Casey who has interrupted her Saturday morning snooze.

"Casey what the hell do you want. Do you realize what time it is? Some of us normal people were trying to sleep." the brunette says angrily.

Casey purses her lips before she walks straight past Abbie and into the living room. Abbie sighs heavily before she closes the door again, and follows her best friend, not looking forward to what Casey has gotten herself in to.

"What have you done…?" Abbie asks rubbing the sleep away from her eyes.

"What makes you think I've done something?" Casey responds as she begins to pace back and forth. "Oh fuck it, you know that I've done something because that's just how you are. Alex and I slept together last night."

Abbie's eyes widen and her mouth forms a perfect 'O' shape at Casey's revelation. Yeah, she knew it was gonna happen, but she didn't think it'd be so soon.

"Oh my…so…wait, did you just leave her, or are you two like a thing now…?" she questions seriously.

Casey shakes her head furiously. "No I didn't just leave! We're going on a date later, but I told her that I had to leave. Abbie I think…I dated her older sister."

Abbie nervously rubs the back of her neck as her suspicions from a few nights prior are confirmed. She just wishes for once in her life she's wrong.

"Dude, how do you forget that you dated Melissa Cabot…"

"I don't fucking know Abbie, it's not really something that I like to think about . Oh man, this is bad. I can't tell Alex, she'll hate me. What do I do Abbie? Oh my god, I feel like I need a drink."

Abbie's eyes widen once again and she shakes her head. "Hey, no. No drinking. Just...wow…okay, uh…how about we sit here, and you tell me what happened with Melissa."

Casey plops down next to her best friend on the couch and begins thinking of where to start. "Well…"

**Flashback **

Melissa Cabot is brought from her sleep when she feels a blanket draped over her and lips press themselves to her forehead. She opens her eyes and has to blink several times for her eyes to adjust. The red letters on the clock read 1:52 letting her know that it is well past midnight.

"Casey?" she asks softly, rubbing the sleep away from her eyes.

"Yeah baby it's me. Go back to sleep." Casey mumbles quietly.

"It's past midnight, I was waiting for you." Melissa says as she sits up from where she had fallen asleep on the couch. "You said you'd be here by eight thirty or nine…"

Casey nods and runs her hand through her hair. "Yeah I…stuff came up…" she explains lamely.

"You didn't call…I was worried." Melissa say sleepily. She yawns greatly before she inhales the strong smell of alcohol. "Have you been drinking?"

Casey's eyes widen and she moves away from Melissa before shaking her head vigorously. "No…"

"Casey, you smell like alcohol. You've been drinking…we talked about this." Melissa groans as she stands up from the couch and moves across the her living room.

"I'm sorry…I only had a few…it's not like I'm drunk…" Casey mumbles, her speech betraying her words completely.

Melissa raises her eyebrows, obviously questioning her girlfriend's sincerity. "You're lying…you've already gotten drunk and now you're lying to me about it. Did you drive home?"

Casey's mouth snaps shut and she hangs her head which in turn gives Melissa the answer that she needs.

"Oh my god…Casey, why? You've been sober for almost five months, what happened to make you want to give all that up?" Melissa asks sadly.

Casey shrugs miserably in response. "I don't know…tonight I just…felt like I really needed it. One turned into four and I just…I'm so sorry, baby." She chokes out before tears begin making their way down her face.

Melissa crosses the room and wraps her arms around the sobbing woman. "It's okay…" she whispers.

Casey squeezes her eyes shut as she uncontrollably sobs on Melissa's shoulder. "No, it's not. I promised you I'd stop but I didn't. I hurt you, and I'm so sorry."

"Hey, it's going to be alright, do you know why? Because I love you. You made a mistake, but that doesn't make me love you any less." Melissa says, softly kissing Casey on the lips. She tries hard to ignore the strong taste of vodka and probably something else from the kiss.

"I love you too." Casey murmurs, resting her forehead against the blonde's.

"You should go take a shower, brush your teeth, and then come to bed." Melissa says quietly taking Casey by the hand and quietly leading her to the bedroom.

It's probably about thirty minutes before Casey exits the bathroom and crawls into bed next to her lover. She slips her arms around the older woman's waist and judging by her breathing, she can tell that Melissa has already fallen asleep.

Sleep doesn't come easy for Casey that night and all, and she basically just lies there listening to Melissa's even breathing.

She just lies there, staring into the darkness wondering how she has been able to mess up so badly. She knows that Melissa is disappointed in her, but she just won't show it, because she's too kind of a person. But Casey knows.

It's probably three in the morning when she carefully moves out of bed, being careful not to startle the sleeping woman next to her.

She quietly moves around the bedroom and over to a dresser where she opens a drawer. She feels around inside the drawer for a moment before she pulls out a notepad and a pen.

Casey then sits on the edge of the bed and places the pen to the paper, holding it there for a few minutes or so. Finally words begin to form on the page as she diligently but legibly writes across the page.

It takes her a good two hours to actually produce what she wanted, because of the times that she had to stop and restart. She swears that she's actually worn down the entire notepad.

Reading over the paper one last time, she folds it crisply and leaves it on the pillow on her side of the bed. She then moves around the bedroom once more, but this time, filling her duffle bag with all of her things she's kept in the apartment.

Casey finishes her packing and her eyes sting with unshed tears as she sadly looks at the sleeping blonde in the bed. She bends down and softly kisses Melissa's forehead. She gently strokes her cheek with the back of her hand, and smiles when Melissa smiles and leans into the touch in her sleep.

Picking up her duffle bag, Casey sighs and quietly exits the bedroom leaving behind only a note, and an oblivious lover.

Melissa awakens at probably around eight am that same morning. She stretches and instinctively her hand goes to the other side of the bed, only to find it cold and empty.

Frowning, she sits up and notices Casey's side of the bed completely cold and made up as if it had never been slept in. It is then that the folded yellow paper on the pillow catches her eye. Melissa takes the note off of the pillow and carefully unfolds it, curious on what it reads.

_Melissa, _

_ I know that this really isn't the way that I should be doing this, but right now for me, it's the only way that I can do this. _

_ Things between us…they just aren't working anymore. I can't be what you need me to be, and I think that the only way for that to be fixed is if we stop seeing each other. After last night, I realized that I just can't be with you with what I have going on in my life right now. I just don't want you to be thrown in to that. _

_ I was worrying you, and it was beginning to show, and that's just something I don't want to happen anymore. I could tell that I was disappointing you every time I made a stupid mistake, and you shouldn't have had to feel that way, because I shouldn't have made those mistakes. _

_ I'm sorry that I couldn't be more for you, and I really wished that things would have worked out for the better. You're an amazing woman, and I'm sorry that it just wasn't working. I'm sure that you'll find someone who can be with you with out all of the things that I brought along. _

_I'm sorry, _

_ Casey. _

By the time she's finished reading the letter, Melissa has found that she has tears pouring down her face. She reads it over and over again trying to make sense of the words, but nothing is making sense to her at the moment.

She quickly gets out of bed and rushes out of her bedroom hoping to find Casey just sitting downstairs waiting for her to realize that the note is just a cruel joke.

Her heart sinks completely when she finds her apartment completely empty, no signs of anyone else ever being there but herself.

Melissa collapses onto her couch and once again reads the slightly tear splattered note in her hand, feeling like that's all she's worth; a small sheet of paper.

**End Flashback **

Casey finishes telling Abbie the story, only to find her best friend sitting completely and utterly silent.

"You left her a note…" Abbie says slowly, her tone biting and criticizing.

Casey winces at the brunettes tone, and nervously runs a hand through her hair. "It…seemed okay at the time. I didn't know what else to do. I think I was still slightly drunk when I wrote it."

Abbie shakes her head and averts her eyes to the floor. She loves Casey to death but sometimes the way that her best friend treats women sometimes is just frustrating and appalling to her.

"Casey, Alex is going to kill you when she finds out." She whispers, not really knowing what else to say.

Casey groans and places her head in her hands. "I know! I can't tell her, there's no way."

Abbie purses her lips and folds her arms. "I don't know Case…I really for once do not know what you should do on this one. I don't have an answer for you…" she mumbles, answering any question before Casey can ask it.

Casey sighs and sinks down further into Abbie's couch wishing that she could just disappear. There's no possible way that she can tell Alex she dated her older sister. Now all she has to do is successfully avoid any meetings with Melissa at all costs.

**Well….this seems bad….leave a review? **


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: I am so sick it feels like I am literally dying. But I didn't want to leave you guys in drought so I cranked this out. It might not be my best but…it's a step further in the story. Sorry. **

Casey is standing outside of Alex's apartment once again at approximately seven thirty. She knocks a few times and nervously shuffles on her feet. She glances at her watch once more to make sure that she's on time.

The door opens a few seconds later revealing Alex in a form fitting black dress. Casey smiles broadly at her date's attire, knowing that she would get just what she asked for when she told Alex to dress classy.

"You look gorgeous." She says nicely which causes Alex to blush. She then repositions the flowers in her hand before she hands them to the flushed blonde. "These are for you."

Alex grins and thankfully accepts the flowers. "Thank you…I should put these in water. I'll only be a second."

Casey stands out side with her hands in her pockets waiting for Alex to reappear so they can leave. She thinks to her self that she really does come up with something different other than the whole flowers thing if Alex wants her to be different.

"Ready to go." Alex says stepping outside of her apartment. She feels Casey take her hand as they begin walking towards the elevator and thinks to herself that under normal circumstances she most definitely wouldn't be doing this. But obviously these are not normal circumstances.

**Restaurant **

"So why do you date so much?" Alex asks curiously after they've ordered their dinner. She has to say that she impressed by Casey taking her to a very upscale Italian restaurant. It isn't everyday she gets pampered you know.

Casey briefly pales from the question, but the color in her face quickly returns, turning into a full blown blush.

"Um…why do you ask?" is all she is really able to reply with.

Alex shrugs and sits back in her chair. "Well I was just wondering. I'm assuming everyone has a reason for the amount of people they date, and from what I've heard of you, it's quite an extensive amount. Why is that?"

Casey bites her bottom lip before she settles on shrugging as well. "I dunno really. It just kind of happens. Women are just that attracted to me….that sounded really arrogant didn't it?"

"Maybe just a bit." Alex replies curtly. "So I have drawn several scenarios on what we should do about or current relations. That is if you intend on pursuing a stable relationship with me."

Casey raises her eyebrows curiously at Alex's statement. "You have drawn…scenarios? Why?"

"Because that is the only functional way to operate. If you do not draw your own scenarios you are completely incapable of drawing conclusions and in situations it is best that you are properly aware of all of the possible outcomes."

"So…what are these scenarios?" Casey asks reluctantly.

Alex takes a deep breath before she continues on. "Well given the circumstances there is no possible way that we can hide this from our friend groups. In fact I am almost positive that you have already informed Abbie of our…relations. In addition to that I can't exactly hide anything from Kim, Liv, and Serena.

However, given the information that the three of them are all former lovers of yours, I think that it would be suitable to tell them first chance rather than hide it. Hiding something only prolongs further damages to relationships and will only make the situation at hand worse.

Aside from that, if you are in fact serious about being with me, which I supremely hope that you are because I do not wish for you to waste my time by making me your play thing. So you will eventually have to come and meet my family."

Casey's eyes widen and she chokes on her water. "Y-your…family? Alex you're like thirty! Why on earth would I still have to meet your family?"

Alex sighs and shakes her head as if the answer should be the most obvious thing in the world. "My parents are very formal and they adhere to the traditions of meeting who I am seeing. Despite my age, I am still their daughter and unfortunately I still have to abide by their rules."

"I still don't see why this is necessary." Casey mumbles as she shakes her head once again.

"It is necessary because not only am I following the guidelines my parents have given me, I am also making sure that you are being serious about this. I am trying to make sure that you aren't going to break my heart and leave me like you've left other women. Now that I think about it…has anyone every broken up with you?"

"Psh…no." Casey replies quickly.

Alex purses her lips and nods her head. "See that is exactly my point."

This causes Casey to frown in confusion as she tries to figure out whether or not she should be offended. "What point?"

"See, no one has ever broken up with you so you have absolutely no idea what it feels like to have someone leave you like that. For example, you told Serena that you loved her did you not?"

"….I really don't see how this is relevant…but yes I did."

"See? You told her you loved her and then you left; and with out even bothering to call at that. You don't know what that's like to have someone say they love you and just turn around and leave. I don't want that to happen to me Casey…I can't plan for something like that and that's why I'm here begging you right now, if you're going to run away from me, please do it now before I completely give up my heart to you."

Casey sees the pleading in Alex's eyes and she reaches across the table, taking the blonde's hand in her own. "Alex, I want this to work between us. I want something with you. A stable something that I'm not going to run away from. I just need you to trust me."

Alex nods her head before she averts her eyes to the table. "I haven't been with someone in so long…I'm not sure I know what to do any more."

"Hey, a relationship is a two person thing right? We'll figure it out together. I'll help." Casey responds reassuringly.

The two fall into a light and comfortable conversation even after their food has arrived. They talk easily about work and their friends, though some topics of conversation are easily objected.

Casey can't help but notices how Alex swiftly changes the subject whenever she brings anything up that has to do with information about her family.

While this is very curious, Casey still finds the relief of not yet having to inform Alex about her relationship with Melissa. Yes she knows that she needs to tell Alex about it, it's just…not the right time for her.

They have just settled into another conversation after eating, when a waiter carrying wine glasses on a tray trips and ends up spilling the contents of the glasses directly on Casey.

Casey gasps and moves away from the table, finding herself drenched in exceptionally strong wine from the waist up. She glares hard at the waiter who is looking at her with fearful apologetic eyes.

"Oh my god, ma'am, I am so sorry." he stumbles out as he picks up the now empty discarded wine glasses.

Casey opens her mouth to respond but snaps it shut as the strong smell of wine wafts across her nose. She closes her eyes and takes ten deep breaths before returning her icy gaze to the waiter.

"Don't worry about it. Just go." She says dismissively as she begins to unbutton her wine drenched shirt.

The waiter wants to apologize once again, but he decides against it, quickly scurrying away from the table.

Casey grumbles to herself as she unbuttons her shirt and slides it off, leaving her in only her black camisole. She then takes a clean napkin and dries and traces of the fluid that may have rubbed off on her.

"Casey, are you alright? We can go if you want to…" Alex asks concernedly.

Casey slips on her coat in place of her shirt and shakes her head. "No I think I'll…" she trails off as the smell of the spilled wine on the floor hits her again. "Actually, can we leave? I'm sorry, I just…really need to get out of here." she adds on standing from her chair.

Alex nods her head and stands as well, watching Casey mumble to her self irritably as she pays the check.

"Alex, can you do me a favor?" Casey asks before they leaving, receiving a head nod in response. "Take that shirt, and throw it away somewhere once we get outside."

Alex stares at Casey curiously for a moment before she picks up the wet shirt and follows the redhead outside of the restaurant. Once outside, she does as Casey asked her to and stuffs the button down in a nearby trash can.

Casey sits silently in the car with her head resting again the steering wheel. Even after Alex climbs into the passenger seat, she still needs a moment to gather herself.

"Are you alright?" Alex asks once again, seriously worried that something is wrong.

"I-I'm fine." Casey answers, taking another deep breath of air. Clean air. "I just needed a moment."

**Alex's Apartment **

"Casey can I ask you something?" Alex asks as she snuggles deeper under the covers next to her new lover.

"Shoot." Casey responds, throwing an arm over Alex's waist.

"Why'd you freak out so much when the waiter spilled wine on you at dinner? I mean, I'm sure that I would have freaked too simply because I've had something spilled on me, but that's just how I am. You…you looked like you were in pain for a little while. I was worried…"

Casey sighs and closes her eyes. This is a topic of discussion that Casey was hoping that she would never ever have to have with another girlfriend. Guess she was wrong on this one.

"Honestly? I…kind of have a drinking problem. It started probably when I was in my early twenties, and it just…never really went away. I haven't had a drink in a couple years now that I think about it, which is the longest that I've ever gone without, but it's still hard to be around alcoholic drinks. It's really horrible because it's actually showed up as a huge issue in some of my relationships and they just…didn't work."

Alex is silent before a moment before she leans over and places a soft kiss on Casey's lips.

"I trust you, and if I can help you in anyway, I will." She says softly before kissing the redhead once again. "And is was super brave of you to tell me that."

Casey shrugs and wraps her arms tightly around Alex's body, pulling them even closer together. "Most people don't know. It's not really something I tell. I mean, of course Abbie knows, she's the one who watches me…"

"Well you have a pretty amazing best friend, and now you have a pretty amazing girlfriend"

"Mmmm do I? Tell me, what might that girlfriend do that makes her so amazing?"

Alex smirks before she rolls over, straddling Casey. "Well, she might just have to show you then won't she?"

* * *

**Later **

Alex has successfully been able to seclude her relationship with Casey from any of her friends for a good two weeks. Oh and what a good two weeks those have been.

That is, until Serena brings up something at lunch that lets Alex know that she pretty much knows what's going on.

"Okay, you caught me. We're seeing each other." The older blonde mumbles irritably.

"I knew it! I knew it! See, I told you I knew!" Serena exclaims giving both Liv and Kim a look of self triumph.

"You just couldn't resist huh…" Kim murmurs. Usually, the comment coming from her especially would have a teasing tone, but for some reason, Kim's tone lacks all sense of humor.

Alex catches this and frowns at the brunette. "It's not that big a deal. I mean, she's soft, she's loving, she's caring she's tre-" she then finds herself cut off by Olivia.

"She's treating you right, she's buying you things, she's telling you how beautiful you are, she's…"

"Telling you how special you are, probably how you're one in a million. She tells you how much you mean to her, then she kisses you and the two of you make love until the sun rises." Kim adds on in the same monotone voice as before.

Alex snaps her mouth shut and blushes. She would be lying if she said that it didn't bother her that her friends were all right on the money.

"Okay, so what's your point…?" she asks begrudgingly.

"The point is, she says the same thing to every woman she dates. 'You're so special. I'm lucky to have you.' and all that shit. It's like she's a broken record that can't be fixed."

Alex rolls her eyes and looks towards her best friend who looks like she is struggling on what she wants to say. Finally, Serena realizes everyone is look at her, so she speaks.

"My opinion on the matter is...that it's your decision Ali…" the younger blonde says quietly.

"But…" Alex begins knowing there is more to the statement.

"But, I think that it isn't a wise idea to be involved with her. She's broken so many hearts, ours included, and I just…I don't want that to happen to you."

Alex scowls in anger and glares at her friends. "All of you are being overly judgmental. She's promised me that we are going to have a real and honest relationship. That she's not just going to up and leave, leaving me heartbroken. We've already talked about this. All of you are wrong."

"Alex, we're just saying that you need to be careful." Olivia says solemnly. "The trend that Casey has going on…you're only setting yourself up for the inevitable."

"If she doesn't want to listen then let her be. There is only so much that one can tell someone who is too stubborn to see the truth." Kim speaks up.

This causes Alex's anger to flare, and she zeros in on Kim specifically. "You know what Kim? I think that you're jealous."

Kim snorts and shakes her head. "Jealous of what? That you're dating a woman who has slept around with more women than she can count? No thanks."

"You're jealous because Casey is going to be serious with me unlike she was with you. That she's found something in me that she will never find in you. You're jealous because I'm obviously the woman that you were not."

"Alex, you really do need to calm down." Serena says sensing angers rising at the table.

Alex snaps her head towards Serena, glare still firmly in place. "Don't you dare tell me to calm down. How dare all of you? Tell me how to function in my relationship; a relationship that really isn't any of your business. Maybe you should check your facts before you start judging people." She says bitterly.

"There are no facts that need to be checked. We are sitting here telling you clear as day. Casey will break your heart, no ifs ands or buts. We as your friends who have already been down this road are just trying to let you know what you're getting yourself into." Kim says flatly.

"She's right Alex. The last thing that we are trying to do is attack you. I know it may not seem like it, but we really are trying to help you." Olivia says calmly.

Alex huffs irritably before she stands up from her chair. "All of you are just jealous. That's all it is. But let me tell you something; Casey is with me now, and I promise that my relationship with her will not end up like the rests of yours."

She pauses before she glares angrily at her best friend. Her best friend who is supposed to side with her but is doing an exceptionally poor job of it.

"And when I wake up in the morning, I am most definitely not going to be finding a note on my bedside pillow." She says spitefully before rooting in her purse from cash, throwing it on the table, and leaving three stunned women behind staring after her.

Serena sits with her mouth hanging open in pure shock. She had not once thought that Alex would use such a cheap shot like she did and it is actually very hurtful.

"She'll find out sure enough." Liv mumbles folding her arms.

Kim shakes her head and sits back in her chair. "Alex is a big girl, but she just better know what she's getting into."

**Sorry once again….leave a review? **


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: Yeah, I don't know what I have, but it feels like it's getting worse, which really really sucks. Whatever…here's another chapter. **

**Cabot Estate **

"So you're seeing someone?"

Alex stares at her hands and nods her head, avoiding all eye contact with her father. "Yes sir…"

Peter hums and leans back in his chair, crossing his arms tightly as he analyzes his daughter. "Why?"

"Um…why what?" Alex responds not really sure of the question.

"Why are you seeing someone? I am not saying that you are not allowed to seeing as you are a grown woman; I would just like to know your reasons for seeing this…woman." He responds hesitantly.

Alex swallows the lump in her throat as she tries to come up with an answer for her father. She decides that it's best to conveniently leave out the fact that she has been seeing for almost two months and she hasn't informed him of it. No need to start an unnecessary father.

"Well, I want to be with her…?" she responds, unintentionally making it sound like a question.

Peter nods his head again, but doesn't falter his hard determined gaze. "Does she treat you right?"

"Oh, yes sir. She's kind and caring and respectful and I can tell that what we have is starting to go somewhere serious. Plus, I'm really happy with her."

"Then you will bring her here." her father replies flatly without any room for an argument. It most definitely was not a suggestion.

Alex bites her lip before she deems it safe to speak again. "But…sir, is it really necessary that you meet her? Especially so soon?"

"If anyone is to be seeing either one of my daughters they are to come to me first. It needs to be decided whether or not this person is worthy of being with you romantically or if they are nothing more than a distraction from your work. And you and I both know fairly well that is the very last thing that you need." Peter states sternly.

Alex sighs and runs her fingers through her hair. "I understand…if it is necessary that you meet her, then I will bring her here." she mumbles indignantly.

Peter nods his head and stands up from his office chair. "Excellent. You will bring her here and she will meet your mother, your sister, and I. I will be looking forward to it." he says exiting his office without word or response from his youngest daughter.

Alex groans and rests her head in her hands. Sometimes she wishes that things weren't so difficult in her life, especially when it came to her family. While her father is probably looking forward to their future dinner, she most definitely is not.

* * *

**Later **

"You want me to meet your family…Oh my god you were serious about this?! Alex no!" Casey groans into the phone, resting her head on the steering wheel as she comes to a stoplight.

"Casey please, it won't be that bad. Plus, it's sort of a requirement for me. I'm sure that they'll love you. What's not to love about you?" Alex responds trying to lighten the mood.

Casey huffs and bands her head against the head rest of her seat repeatedly, earning her looks from the other people in the cars next to her.

"Alex, come on. Why can't you just…tell them that I'm unavailable or something, I don't know! I really don't think this is a good idea. Everything's been going fine, why do I need to meet them?"

"Because Casey, it's formal and it's you making an attempt at my heart in front of my father. If you can win his approval, than you might as well say that you've won an Oscar or something. It won't be that bad. Weren't you just the one telling me that you have pretty good people skills?"

Casey rolls her eyes as she grips the steering wheel tighter. "Don't turn this back on me. But seriously, do I have to go?"

"It would really mean so much if you did." Alex says in her sweetest voice possible.

"That's your code for 'yes Casey you have to' isn't it?"

"In a way….but seriously, you have to go. No more discussions about it. Okay?"

"….yeah, whatever…" Casey murmurs indignantly. "You know, you can be very demanding sometimes? But because you're you, and you're super sexy, I'll do it…"

"Awwwww well aren't you the best." Alex coos sarcastically.

Casey chuckles and drums her fingers on the steering wheel as she comes to yet another dreadful stoplight. "Yeah you know me Babe. You at home?"

"Yeah I but I have-"

"Great, I'm coming over, see you in a bit."

"Okay but Casey-…"

"Alex, I'm driving and there's like a shit load of cops out today, I'll see you in a little bit."

Alex sighs over the other end of the phone and mumbles a quick 'bye' before ending the phone call.

Casey groans irritably out loud once again. Of course Alex would want her to meet her family, because that's just how Alex operates. She always has to do things by the book and everything has to be perfect by her standards.

She mumbles to her self the entire drive to Alex's apartment and she begins to wonder if it's actually worth going through all the work anymore. But she remembers that she did make a promise to Alex that she would try to stay in a committed relation. But, that is the key word; try.

Even in the elevator ride up to Alex's floor, she can't stop thinking about the inevitable grilling she would most definitely get from Alex's father. It's not something that she's looking forward to in the slightest.

Casey stuffs her hands into her pocket as she makes her way towards Alex's apartment. She knocks on the door and waits patiently for her girlfriend to answer the door so they can continue with this whole 'family' discussion.

She frowns as she has to knock for a second time after probably a minute. It isn't like Alex to not answer the door right away. Usually she only has to knock a total of once, especially if Alex is expecting her.

"Is she serious…" Casey mumbles as she begins knocking again. The door finally swings open, and her hand soon freezes in mid knock as her eyes go wide as car tires. "Oh my god…"

Melissa Cabot blinks several times s she stands face to face with her former lover. A thousand and one questions run through her mind and about a hundred miles an hour. What is Casey doing there, why is Casey there, how does Casey know her sister, why does Casey know here sister, and etc.

"What are you doing here?" she questions as she slowly backs away from the door.

Casey swallows thickly and steps into the apartment praying that Alex will make an appearance soon. How is it that the very thing that she is trying to avoid, she practically runs into?

"Um…I-I..uh…"

"Casey?"

'Oh thank god.' "Alex! H-hey!" she responds, her voice shooting up probably three full octaves.

"Hey baby." Alex says as she kisses her lover on the lips, a kiss that Casey barely has time to respond to.

Casey chuckles nervously and glances awkwardly at Melissa before turning towards Alex. "You didn't tell me that you were having company…."

Alex grins and shrugs. "I tried, but you were in such a hurry to get off the phone. Anyway, this is my sister, Melissa. Melissa, this is Casey, my girlfriend." she says introducing the two.

Casey grins nervously and extends her hand towards Melissa hoping that the older blonde will take her hint, and play it off like they have just met each other. But of course, she isn't having such luck.

"Un-fucking-believable." Melissa states as she ignores Casey's extended hand. "You're dating my sister?"

"I-I didn't know…can we please, do this some other time?" Casey responds, really not wanting to do this…at all.

"What?" Alex asks confusedly, but her concerns fall upon deaf ears.

"You disappear for god knows how long, and then you show up again, dating my little sister? What the fuck is your problem?"

"Look, I didn't know that she was your sister, alright? I just…happened."

"She fucking looks like my little sister Casey! Or did you forget what I looked like? It really wouldn't surprise me if you did."

"Well, to be honest, I forgot your last name too so…"

"What the hell is going on!?" Alex shouts breaking the argument between the two women. She hates being left in the dark about anything, especially in her own house.

"Tell her Casey." Melissa says flatly, glaring hard at the redhead.

Casey's heart feels like it's going to pound straight out of her chest and it makes her wish that she had told Alex about this sooner. Her pleading looks seem to be doing nothing for Melissa who is matching her pleads with an icy glare.

She sighs and turns to Alex who is waiting for an answer from somebody, anybody in the living room. She just wants to know what's going on.

"I…we…used to see each other a little while ago…" she mumbles lamely, glancing at the floor.

"What…? You…what? I don't understand." Alex responds glancing continuously between her lover and her sister.

"We dated. That is, until one day she just up and left me with out any real explanation, or even a phone call." Melissa says harshly.

Alex's eyes widen and she turns towards Casey who is blushing furiously and staring intently into an imaginary spot on the floor.

"Why…why didn't you tell me?" she whispers sadly.

"I didn't know how. First of all, I didn't even know she was your sister until you told me, and I don't remember much about it and I just…I didn't know how."

Alex closes her mouth and stares at the floor as well not really knowing what to say. For once in her life, she is rendered completely speechless by a conflicted situation.

"Ali, I'm leaving. I can't be here, especially not now. I'll see you later." Melissa mumbles, not looking at Casey as she grabs her purse and quickly exits her sister's apartment.

Casey and Alex stay in an awkward silence, with neither of them knowing what to say or how. The tension in the air is so heavy that it could be sliced with a knife.

"You dated my sister…" Alex says finally probably after five minutes.

"It was a long time ago Alex, and it's the past. Can we please not think about it?" Casey asks pleadingly.

Alex looks up from the floor and gives Casey a look that is unreadable. "How can I just not think about it? She's my sister…you…and my sister. Am I her substitute?"

Casey's eyes widen and she shakes her head vigorously. "What? Alex no, of course not. I haven't even thought about her in…I don't know how long."

"So your relationship with her meant nothing to you?"

"I didn't say that."

"So you loved her…?"

"I didn't say that either. Alex, stop putting words in my mouth! What do you want me to say?!"

Alex purses her lips and folds her arms. "I want you to tell me why you didn't tell me any sooner? I would have found a way to plan for this but with out a plan I wasn't able to-"

"Do you have to have a plan for everything?!" Casey groans, interrupting Alex from her on coming rant. "You are always so organized and proper and I just don't understand why you have to be that way. That's why I don't want to meet your family. You want to show off your 'perfect girlfriend' to your father, so he can approve of you, am I right?"

"Casey no, that's not what I'm saying I already told you that I…"

"You what?! Damn it Alex, I'm not perfect like you, and I'm not perfect like you obviously want me to be. You're standards are so high and everything has to be done down to a tee, and it has to be scheduled, and organized. I'm just not the right person for you am I?"

Alex frowns and shakes her head, wondering why Casey has suddenly become so angry with her. "N-no, where did you…I want this to work."

Casey scoffs and laughs bitterly. "Well obviously you don't if you think that you can change how I am. You think you're better than everyone, me included; and you look down on everyone, me included. You always looked down on me from the start didn't you? Because I hurt your friends? That's all I am to you isn't it? Well you know what, maybe you're right. I can't do this."

Alex blinks several times, following Casey to the door. "What are you doing? Why are you leaving?"

"Just don't worry about it anymore. It doesn't fit into your schedule right?" Casey says bitterly before she storms out the door and disappears down the hall.

Alex calls after her, only for her attempts to fall on deaf ears. She walks back into her apartment with a look of utter confusion plastered across her face, and she seriously wonders if Casey will be coming back.

* * *

**Midnight **

Abbie groans intently as she finds herself woken up by an overly irritating noise coming from somewhere in her bedroom. She opens her eyes briefly but closes them again, when she deems it to hard to wake up.

"Abbie, your phone…" Amanda murmurs groggily, poking the snoozing brunette in the side, trying to get her to get up.

Abbie mumbles something incoherent before she reaches over to the nightstand for her phone. She feels around blindly for the offending, vibrating device, until her fingers come into contact with it.

Scowling, she brings the phone to her ear, answering it unhappily. "What…"

"Abbbbbaaaaay!" A slurred voice from the other end of the line says loudly into the receiver.

Abbie rubs her eyes and sits up trying to comprehend what's happening. "Uh…what?"

"Iz yos, wake? Coz, 'm wake too! Aheh, yhu home?"

Abbie blinks several times as she begins to recognize the person. "Casey? What the hell, it's like…midnight…"

"Yah, tis midnight, taint it? Hwu com yhu sund so slep? Thot youz liked minnights..." Casey slurs miserably.

Abbie groans as she realizes that her best friend is stone cold drunk. "Damn it…where are you, I'm coming to get you." she questions as she gets out of bed and begins moving around the room looking for a change of clothes.

"M….shit I dunno….yhu no, thaht bar by duh...sammich place…yhea, I'm dere…I think…I d'no… yhu comin?"

"Yeah Case, I'm coming. Just, don't go anywhere alright? I'll be there in a minute."

"I'll hve nuther drink fo yhu Abbs!"

"No, no more….you hung up…damn!" Abbie groans as she irritably shoves her phone back in her pocket.

"Mmm…where you going?" Amanda asks sleepily, rubbing the sleep away from her eyes.

"I'll be back in a few, I just…have to go pick up something." Abbie says quickly pecking the sleepy blonde on the lips before she rushes out of the room.

"I swear to god, you better be there when I get there." She mutters indignantly as she starts her car.

Fifteen minutes later, Abbie is walking through the door of the bar, glancing around for her highly intoxicated best friend. She finds the women at a table in the corner, surrounded by numerous upon numerous glasses, all of which being empty.

She makes her way to the table, where she comes upon Casey just finishing off what was left of an amber liquid in the bottom of a glass.

"Abbie yhu made it! Wanna drink?" Casey slurs, holding up the empty glass.

Abbie shakes her head, and moves to help the drunken attorney to her feet. "I think it's time we get you outta here…come on.."

"Awww come on Abbs, won mor drink….yhu gotz to lemme hav won mo drink."

Abbie frowns and shakes her head. "Casey, do you hear how drunk you are right now?"

Casey scowls and attempts to stand up straight but fails miserably. "Hey! I'm not drunk, kay? Yhu…yhutake that bach' coz I ain't drunk. Yohz a'ways gon 'roun syin 'm drunk, but l'me tell yhuz somthin, I a'nt drunk."

Abbie sighs heavily as she struggles greatly to get Casey out of the bar and into the parking lot. She basically has to drag the redhead over to her car, where she opens the passenger seat, and carefully sits her inside.

"God, I cannot believe this…" she mumbles to herself as she walks around to the driver's side. She gets in the car and glances over at Casey who is now resting her head against the window, singing some random song. "Novak, if you puke in my car I'm gonna kill you."

Casey drunkenly waves her hand at Abbie and continues to sing a random tune that probably isn't even a song.

"Yoz just drive da ca…I..I be fine…" she murmurs, resting her head against the window once more.

Abbie sighs and starts the car, preparing for the ever so long and dangerous journey back to her apartment. She loves Casey to death; but she just better not puke in her car.

Once back at her apartment, Abbie grunts in frustration as she tries to get Casey through the door. Once again, she is basically carrying dead weight, and it's like Casey is doing absolutely nothing to help her.

"Gah Case, come on. You aren't exactly light as a feather here…" she grunts again as they stagger over towards the couch.

"Hey, yhuz callin meh fhat?" Casey frowns as she faintly feels herself being seated on the couch.

Abbie lets out a much needed breath as she sits on the coffee table, catching her breath from practically dragging her best friend into the room.

"You were gonna throw my back out, you know that?" she pants irritably. She watches as Casey opens her mouth to answer with some drunken response, when the redhead suddenly begins waving at something behind her.

"Heeeeeeeeeeyyyyy gud morning; Detective!" Casey shouts drunkenly.

Abbie turns around and finds a pajama clad Amanda looking at the two of them with a very confused, yet sleepy expression.

"Um…good…morning, Counselor." Amanda responds, looking at Abbie for an answer.

"She's drunk…" Abbie says flatly, not really knowing what else to say at this point.

"Hey I sayd I ain't drunk!" Casey shouts, smacking Abbie across the face.

Amanda snickers and nods her head. "Yes, I can see that. Do you need me to do anything? I can help if I need to." She offers, but unable to suppress the yawn that escapes her lips.

Abbie shakes her head, rubbing the side of her face where Casey hit her. "No, it's fine. Go back to bed sweetheart, I got this."

Amanda hesitates for a moment before nodding her head, and making her way back to the bedroom where she intends to fall back asleep.

"When'd yhu start sleepin with Detective Rollins?" Casey asks as she repetitively pets the brunette's shoulder.

Abbie blushes and moves Casey's hand away from her. "That's not your business, so don't worry about it."

"Well I wuz jus wonderin' coz that is won fine piece of a-"

"Casey!"

"What? I was jus sayin…dat ass…"

Abbie blushes once again at her best friend's vulgarity and she moves to take a seat on the couch next to her.

"You are so drunk…what happened that made you go out and start drinking like this? You've obviously had a lot."

Casey scrunches up her nose and rolls her head from side to side. "Pfft nah, I didn' have that much. But what happened? Ahh, Alex an I had a fight. Think we broke up too."

Abbie's eyes widen at this. "Oh my…what happened? I thought everything was fine?"

"Meh too, ya know? But I went ovah there today, and guess who was there? Melissa. We got inna fight andf I hadda tell Alex bout wut happened. Then we gott inna fight and I kinna broke up wit her. I think…shit Idunno…But fuuuuuccck she's so damn controllin' you kno? Wana change me, and stuff, gotts to do erry'thing the perfect Alex way."

"So you broke up with her, because you didn't like her organization."

Casey shrugs miserably and makes a face. "I dunno…somethin' like thaht. Hey wanna kno some secret? Bout why I broke up with her sis? I loved her."

Abbie frowns and tilts her head in confusion, hoping that Casey will elaborate more despite her drunken state. "You loved who?"

"Melissa, stoopid." Casey says smacking Abbie once again, probably a little harder than intended. "I loved her sooooo much, an that's why I cudn't stay wit her, coz I don't fall in love. I mean, look, who I am. 'M Casey Novak, I don't do love. So I broke up wit her, coz I cudn't be in love. That's why I broke hup with Rena too. Started to feel thaht way bout her. Ain't thaht fonny? Meh bein in love wit sum body. Think I maht be fallin' fo Alex now…I dunno….love is stoopid. Imma sleep now Abbs, yhu shud go slept too."

Abbie sighs and moves from the couch, allowing Casey to stretch out and pass out instantly. She knows that it is most definitely going to be a very rough morning.

**Uh oh…Leave a review? **


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N: So…yeah…here's another chapter from your friendly neighborhood ill person. Being sick, I've got a lot of time on my hands, sad thing is…it's hard to think of new chapters so…yeah,…here's another one. Not my best, again…but enjoy. **

Casey cracks open her eyes, only to quickly snap them shut again at the onslaught of far too much light for her liking. She groans and throws her arm over her face as she feels like there are about a billion tiny little men in her head hammering away at her brain.

She sits up and immediately, the room takes a complete dip and three hundred sixty degree spin that makes her completely nauseous. She rushes to the nearest bathroom and immediately empties the contents of her stomach.

Just when she thinks she's finished, more bile rises in her throat and she continues to vomit mercilessly. She then feels her hair being held back as all of the contents inside her empty themselves into the toilet.

Casey finishes vomiting and collapses on to the cool bathroom floor, breathing hard from her prior activities. The taste in her mouth is probably even worse than it was when she woke up, and her headache seems to only have intensified.

"How ya feeling?" Abbie asks quietly, sitting on the edge of the bath tube, as Casey sits up off the floor, trying to steady herself.

"I feel like shit…" the redhead grumbles, screwing her eyes shut trying to will away the headache. "God, how bad was it?"

"I don't even know Case, I didn't count. But it looked like a lot. Do you remember what happened last night?" Abbie questions quietly, slightly understanding that Casey might be sensitive to noise at the moment.

Casey groans and runs her hand over her face. "Barely. I remember going to the bar, and thinking about having a drink. Then I remember having a few, and…yeah. God, I've ruined everything…I haven't had a drink in almost two years, and now I've just went and messed everything up."

"Hey, come on…don't be so hard on yourself. Accidents happen, and I understand it's a real struggle for you. C'mon, we should talk in the living room." Abbie says as she pulls her best friend to her feet, and leads the slightly off centered woman back to the couch.

Casey sits down and rests her head in her hands. "Amanda still here?" she mumbles in question.

"Yeah, but she's still asleep. But tell me…what happened that made you go drink?" the brunette presses carefully.

Casey sighs and rests her head on the back of the couch. "I don't even know Abbs…it just happened. I mean, I had my encounter with Melissa, and then Alex and I got into a fight, and I think indirectly broke up with her."

"…why?"

"She wanted me to meet her family, and that just isn't me. Plus, she's so controlling, and organized, and 'by the book'. It's irritating. Why can't she just be anything but perfect? She's so…artificial, like a robot or something."

Abbie purses her lips into a thin line and hums. "I see. So…why didn't you want to meet her family?"

"Because, a) I was avoiding Melissa, but that happened anyway. B) because Alex wants me to be that oh so perfect girlfriend for her to parade around in front of her parent. I just can't do it Abbie, be all perfect like she wants me to." Casey groans again and rubs angrily at her eyes.

Abbie pauses for a moment before she decides it's safe to dive in deeper. "Last night you said something…you said that you fell in love with Melissa. Is that true?"

Casey closes her eyes and exhales deeply. "I…yeah…I did."

"Is that why you left….?"

"I was…scared. I'm not used to falling in love, and the thought of actually falling in love scared me. That's why I drank that night, I just didn't know how else to deal with that strange feeling. I couldn't tell her that I was in love with her so I did the only thing I could think to do. I just…left. Then I went and met Serena, and that feeling came back so I ran again. It's all I know how to do. I just don't do love Abbie…"

"Well maybe it's time that you tried." Abbie begins solemnly. "Maybe Alex has been placed in your life to show you that you really don't have to run anymore. Maybe she's the one…"

Casey's heart actually skips a beat, and she looks at Abbie with a shocked expression. "God Abbie, what if she is? I don't know how to love a woman Abbie! I can't do this!"

"Case, relax…it's just like being in a normal relationship. Except you're committed to that one person and you don't break up with them when you realize when you're falling in love with them."

Casey shakes her head and begins nervously wringing her hands. She hates the concept of love, and she has no idea what to do about it. Just the word 'love' and all it's true meaning scares her.

"I don't know…I just…I need to think, and right now I can't do that. I'm going to take a cab to get my car, and head home. You have my keys?"

Abbie sighs and reluctantly hands Casey her car keys. She really wishes that she could prolong the conversation, but she knows that Casey is completely exhausted to the point where she might stop answering questions.

She bids Casey goodbye, knowing that there really is only so much that she can do. She just hopes that Casey is in her right mind enough to not get into any more trouble.

* * *

**Later **

Casey is back home at her own apartment, trying to drown out the events of everything that has happened over the past day.

She stares intently at the bottle of whiskey that is sitting on her coffee table before she reaches over and pours a glass full. She then brings the glass to her nose and deeply inhales the smell of the amber colored liquid, the temptation becoming greater.

In the back of her mind she knows that she shouldn't even have any alcohol anywhere near her apartment, but she's always kept an extra bottle of something for some reason that is unknown to her.

Casey doesn't know why she's been struggling lately, but there's something within her that just doesn't want to stop. She brings the glass to her lips and is about to take a sip of it's contents when a knock is heard at her door.

Sighing, she puts the glass back on the coffee table and forces herself off of the couch to open the door. She has no idea who would actually want to bother her, especially now, and she most definitely isn't expecting anyone.

Casey quickly undoes the locks and swings open the door, only to find a very unhappy looking Melissa standing on the other side of the door.

"What…" Casey mumbles, not really in the mood to be yelled at.

Melissa raises her eyebrows at Casey's dismissive attitude. "Wow, how welcoming…" she says matching her ex's attitude.

Casey rolls her eyes and walks away from the door, leaving it open so Melissa can come inside if she so decides to. She goes back to the living room and plops back down on the couch, sinking deep into her own despair.

Seconds later, she feels the couch slightly dip next to her and she looks over to find Melissa perched on the edge, seated in her prim and proper manner that resembles Alex's identically.

Casey decides to ignore the blonde as she reaches for the glass once again, this time, downing the liquid with out any hesitation.

"You know you shouldn't drink that." Melissa says quietly, her voice full of concern and lacking the criticism that Casey was expecting.

"Yeah well, I do what I want." Casey murmurs as she refills the glass to the once again.

Melissa sighs as she sees Casey reaching for the glass, and she quickly wipes it away, downing the liquid herself in order to keep Casey from drinking it.

"Goodness…I don't see how you can drink that stuff." She says making a face as she sets the bottle on the floor.

Casey rolls her eyes and sinks back into the couch once again. "What do you want Melissa…" she murmurs indignantly. "How'd you find out where I live…"

"I have my sources. And I came to tell you that Alex is hurting because of what you said to her. I think she's almost cried, and my sister doesn't cry for anything Casey."

"Well then let her cry." The younger woman responds with the same indignant tone she had before.

Melissa sighs and shakes her head in defeat. "You always got like this when you drank and you thought too much. You'd never tell me what was going on, you'd just…drink, and it made me worry about you because that's the only way that I say you relieving your problems. You pulled away from me, and it's been so long, can I at least know why?"

Casey sighs and shuts her eyes, not wanting to look at anything anymore. She knew that this moment would come, but she can't say that she ever prepared herself for it. Not that she's sure she cares anymore anyway.

"I drank that night because that was the night that I realized I loved you. That's why I left, because I loved you, and I don't do love. Okay? You know, now are you happy? Are birds going to come out and sing, and is your life now complete because you got the answer that you were searching for?"

"So…you left me, because you loved me?" Melissa questions curiously. "How does that make any sense?"

"It makes sense in my mind and that's all it needs to make sense in. I can't explain it to you, all you need to know is that I loved you, and I left. K? What more do you want from me?" Casey asks, feeling an on coming headache but not caring as she takes a swig straight from the bottle.

Melissa takes a deep breath as she softly rests her hand on Casey's shoulder. "I don't want anything from you. I just…I don't want you to hurt Alex like you hurt me."

Casey's anger flares, and her anger mixed with alcohol is never a good thing. She shoots off of the couch and begins vibrantly pacing the living room.

"Is that how you look at me Melissa? Why are you even here? Obviously it's not just to be in the defense of your baby sister right? Are you here to criticize me on how I can't have a stable relationship?" she says bitterly.

Melissa stands up as well, and faces Casey who has now stopped pacing but has settled on glaring at her deathly.

"No, I'm not here to criticize you for anything. I just wanted to talk to you! I just…I just wanted to know your intentions with Alex, and that you aren't just going to toss her aside like…anyone else." She says quietly.

"And why does it even matter to you?! We're done, over, and frankly, it's none of your business! And if it is, you should be talking to Alex, not here bothering me about it!" Casey shouts back startling Melissa.

The blonde raises her eyebrows in concern. She knows that Casey is probably drunk, and angry, and those two together aren't a good combo for anyone.

"Casey will you listen to me?" she says trying to calm the angered woman.

But her attempts fall on deaf ears as Casey quickly crosses the room and backs her into the wall, placing her arm forcefully across her throat.

"No, you listen to me. I don't know who you think you are coming here, and speaking to me like this but you are hopelessly confused. You have no idea about anything that's going on in my head right now, nor do you need to. It isn't any of your business okay? Why don't you just fuck off, and go back to your sister and the rest of your fucking life, and stay the hell away from me okay? There's a reason I never called, and there's a reason that I forgot you. So just take a hint and stay the fuck away from me."

Casey stares into the eyes of a very fearful Melissa, with widened eyes, and making a noise that is a cross between a choke and a whimper.

She removes her arm from the blondes throat and backs away to a secluded corner of the room, where she sinks into a crouched position, and buries her head in her arms.

Melissa slows her rapid paced heart as she tries to catch her breath once again. She would be lying if she said that Casey hadn't scared her just then. She had never once thought that Casey would hurt her, but alcohol does some scary things to people sometimes.

She carefully crosses the room and slides into a seated next to the redhead who is now sobbing softly into the little ball that she's curled herself in.

"I'm sorry Melissa…I didn't mean to…I just…I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said those things, and I just…I think I'm in love with your sister." Casey whimpers softly, not wanting to come out from her hiding spot.

Melissa rubs soothing circles on her ex lover's back, in an attempt to sooth her from her troubles.

"I know sweetie, and she feels the same way, that's why she's hurting. Look, despite our past, I want you to be happy with someone, and if that someone is my sister…just talk to her. Please?" she responds quietly.

Casey nods her head and leans into Melissa's embrace, her head still slightly spinning from her alcohol in take.

"And promise me that you'll get some help for this. You can't keep drinking like this Casey, it's going to start taking a toll on your health, and I really don't want that to happen."

"I will…I promise…"

**Oooo reconciliation….sorta…leave a review? **


	13. Chapter 13

**Last chapter guys…it's short, and I deeply apologize for that but I just…didn't really know what to do. So…here it is. **

"You left…" Alex says, her sad eyes practically burning holes into the woman before her.

"I know…" Casey says softly, not really knowing what else to say at this point.

"Even after you said that you wouldn't, you left and you didn't even call to say why you did, or if you were even coming back. I called you and you didn't answer me. You left Casey."

"I know, Alex, and I'm sorry. I shouldn't have left, because it hurt you, and the last thing that I have ever wanted to do is hurt you. I was so confused, and scared, and now I understand things, and I've made them right, but now I just want to make this right between us. I want us to actually have something together, a real something."

Alex sighs and averts her gaze to the floor. "You dated my sister. You dated my older sister, and you left her, and then you left me. How am I supposed to be okay with that, and let you back in?"

Casey sighs and stands up from the couch, and moves to where she is standing in front of the hurting woman. She knows that she shouldn't have left, she just didn't know that it would make this much of a huge deal. But suddenly, things make so much more sense.

"I know that I shouldn't have left, okay? I'm just…I'm sorry. When I get scared of something, I'm used to just running away from my problems." She explains sadly.

Alex closes her eyes and takes a much needed deep breath. "You just can't run from your problems forever Casey. I…I haven't been with someone in so long, and then I open myself up to you, and you just leave, like I'm nothing, you don't call or anything…I just…I don't know…"

Casey moves forward and places her arms on Alex's shoulders, looking pleadingly into the sad blue eyes. A sadness that she's caused and just not realized it.

"Alex please…I want to be with you, and I'm tired of trying to hide that fact. I was so afraid of being miserably in love with you, but now I realized that it's far more painful to be miserably in love with out you. I'm sorry that I've hurt you, and I'm sorry that you got dragged into this. Hurting you may have been the only thing that has made me realize that I'm in love with you. I don't have a lot of experience with love, but I don't want to run from it anymore. I want to be with you Alex; I want to be with you, and I want to love you, and I want you to love me, and I just…I want to know what it feels like to be in love. Please just give me a chance."

Alex stays completely silent for a long moment as she stares at the begging woman before her. Usually, she would protest and not want to risk making the same mistake twice, but the heart wants, what the heart wants.

She pulls Casey closer to her, and crushes their lips into a deep, passionate kiss. It actually takes Casey off guard and it takes her a moment before she wraps her arms around Alex's waist, holding her close.

Alex breaks the kiss first and rests her forehead against Casey's, just savoring the intimate moment that she never wants to be ripped away from.

"I think I'm in love with you." she whispers softly.

"I know I'm in love with you." Casey responds, kissing her lips once again. As their lips glide smoothly against each other, she slips her hand between them and slowly begins unbuttoning Alex's shirt.

She then tosses the garment somewhere randomly in the living room as she moves her lips from the blonde's neck, to the pale flesh of her shoulder. She plans on making things right, the right way.

Later

Alex snuggles closer to Casey, their warm bodies fitting perfectly against one another.

"Casey I…there's something else that we need to talk about. Abbie called me and told me how dangerously drunk you got not too long ago. Please tell me that you plan on getting help…" Alex says softly.

Casey sighs and wraps her arm tighter around Alex's waist on instinct. "Alex it's not something that I think I can get help for. I just have to…stop drinking. I don't think that there's a rehab that can help me…"

Alex sits up and stares at Casey intently. "You have to at least try before you say that. I don't want you to hurt yourself, and I want you to stop drinking…please, do it for me?"

Casey sighs and softly strokes Alex's cheek with her thumb. She can't deny how beautiful the woman before her is, and she vows not to mess up what a good thing that she has going for her.

"For you…I will do anything…" she whispers, placing a loving a chaste kiss to the other woman's lips.

Alex smiles into the kiss, and pulls away, resting her head on Casey's shoulder. "Good, because I plan on keeping you around, for a very long time."

**Hope you guys enjoyed this story. I have another idea lined up for another fic, so I hope you guys look forward to it. **


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